Scrumhalf George Horne says Glasgow hope to grind down the Stormers in Friday night’s Vodacom URC quarter-final at Scotstoun Stadium.
The teams met in Glasgow at the same stage of last season’s tournament, with three second-half tries propelling the hosts to a 27-10 victory. The Warriors then went on to beat Munster and the Bulls away from home to lift the URC trophy.
Glasgow’s title defence has faltered in recent weeks as they lost their last three matches of the league stage – against the Bulls, Benetton and Leinster – to slip from second on the log to fourth. But Horne expects the Warriors to again deliver when it matters most.
“Playoff rugby is a bit different to the regular season,” he told The Scotsman. “It’s the eight best teams that are left, first of all, so every game is going to be very tough.
“You’ve got to really work to break a team down because they’re going to bring the best version of themselves. I think we did that throughout the playoffs last year, starting in the quarter-final. We managed the game fairly well and we got a bit of joy at the end of the game.
“We pride ourselves on our fitness and I think the work we did in the first 40 or 50 minutes paid off. In the last 20, we managed to score a couple of tries and make it a little bit more comfortable. We know it’s going to be an absolute dogfight for 80 minutes this time, but hopefully we can grind them down.
URC REWIND: Stormers vs Glasgow Warriors
“The last few weeks have been tough for us,” Horne added. “We’ve probably not played our best, especially that game away in Treviso. We were miles off it that day. We definitely performed better out in Leinster, but we hate losing and we can’t afford to do that now because if you lose, you’re out.
“Hopefully we can bring back a performance that this occasion merits and we’re desperate to do that, especially in front of our home fans.”
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Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
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