Gregor Townsend has called on his players to have a “test match mentality” when they face the English Premiership leaders.
Glasgow Warriors travel south to take on the Northampton Saints in their opening Heineken Cup pool game on Sunday.
The Saints are flying high in the Premiership, losing just one game all season, and present a formidable test for the Warriors.
Head coach Townsend is happy with their preparations though and is gunning to cause an upset at Franklin’s Gardens.
He said: “We need a test match mentality. We’re playing one of the strongest teams in Europe.
“Getting an extra couple of days preparations means we can do more than we normally do so we have that test match focus.
“It is playing at a higher level than we’ve playing in the Rabo and we need to go down there, match them, and take our opportunities.
“If we’re to get the win it would certainly be one of the biggest in the club’s history. We know its going to be really hard but our message is that we do have a team that can match the best.”
Townsend admits his side are driven to reach the latter stages this year after watching rivals Edinburgh get to the semi-finals in the last tournament.
Moves are afoot among the English clubs to change qualification for the Heineken Cup, which could see just one of Scotland’s two professional teams qualify in future.
The former Scotland star feels that would be a terrible thing for the cup, and for the game north of the border.
Townsend said: “I believe the Heineken Cup is a great competition, the best club tournament in the world. I don’t see any reason to change it.
“Part of its appeal is the involvement of so many nations and I know the discussions are being held just now and I really hope for the sake of our game that nothing is done to change what is a great tournament detrimentally.”
