The team that wins Saturday’s Guinness PRO12 semi-final rematch will be “the team that has done the best learning” believes Glasgow Warriors’ Ryan Wilson.
Glasgow go back to the Galway Sportsground to face Connacht for the second time in two weeks, and while the Scotland back rower sees it as a “fresh match” he knows that the first meeting, won by the West Ireland province 14-7, has to have a bearing.
“You have to refresh your mind, this is a huge game in comparison,” he reasoned. “It’s one of the biggest games the club has ever been involved in; a semi-final that could lead into the final, and to win back-to-back titles would be an amazing achievement.
“But this time I think the team that will win is the team that has done the best learning.
“Last week we were in all week and we looked at everything – what we did right, what we did wrong, where we could be better.
“We’ve done a hell of a lot of learning and we’re not wanting to play the way we played when we were out there last Saturday. I’ve heard that the weather is meant to be pretty much the same, but that’s good for us, because we can carry on putting the ball in their half and trying to keep them in there.”
Glasgow’s scope to attack Connacht is greater because in the first game “we didn’t get to fire many shots at all,” added Wilson.
“Their defence was outstanding: they kept coming up on us, putting pressure on us, and that’s one thing that maybe took us back a bit.
“But it’s something we can look to manipulate. If you’ve got a team that are flying at you like that, there’s definitely places you can attack.
“I think we only showed out colours in the last 20 when we went down to 14 men. That maybe took them aback a bit.”
Becoming the first away team to win a PRO12 semi-final is a target they know they can achieve, he continued.
“We were the first Scottish side to win a title, so why can’t we be the first side to win an away semi? I believe that we can do that with the team we’ve got, with everything we’ve got here. It’s something we know we can do.
“At the end last week we were pressing with 14 men and could have won. A few of the boys have spoken about that. In the last 30 minutes we seem to get back up, and they maybe tired a little bit. That’s something we’ll be looking to repeat this week.”
Meanwhile Glasgow have confirmed that Scotland centre Richie Vernon has agreed a new one year deal to stay with the club after an injury-disrupted season.
The 28-year-old former Dundee High player was part of Scotland’s Rugby World Cup squad but a shoulder injury sustained after the tournament meant his season ended early.
Vernon has played more than 80 times for Glasgow in two spells and has won 24 caps for his country, most of them in the back row before converting to centre two seasons ago.
“One of my goals is to get back involved in the Scotland set-up and I believe I have the best chance of doing that at Glasgow,” he said.
“Over the last few years we’ve had a consistently high number of players playing international rugby, so I think playing in a Glasgow team which is doing well gives you a great opportunity to play your best rugby and to put your name forward for Scotland squads.”
