Have you got a pen and paper handy? Well, you might require them because calculating what needs to happen to ensure Glasgow Warriors pinch a quarter-final place
in the Heineken Champions Cup just about requires the kind of scribbling calculations you’d get on the numbers section of an episode of Countdown.
“There are probably about 10 permutations,” gasped the Warriors’ forwards coach, John Dalziel of the perilous predicament the Scotstoun side find themselves in.
After last weekend’s thrilling 31-31 draw with the mighty Exeter Chiefs, Glasgow still have a teeny-weeny chance of being one of the best runners-up in the pool stages and progressing to the knockout phase.
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A bonus point win in their final group game at Sale Sharks this weekend would help that cause as long as Northampton fail to do this, Saracens don’t do that and Gloucester make a mess of the other.
And even a win without the bonus could still do the trick providing results involving those aforementioned three teams go their way. It’s a big ask.
The Warriors can’t influence what goes on elsewhere. But, having ran in six tries against Treviso and then four against a miserly Exeter, Dalziel is confident that Glasgow can at least finish with a flourish.
“To score 31 points against Exeter is some effort and that’s 10 tries in two weeks so we’re finding our mojo in attack,” he said.
“It’s always been there under the surface, but there’s been a lot of pressure on the players.
“I think we are starting to get the monkey off our back a bit and putting in some quality performances.
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“It’s been tough, with a World Cup year and losing players.
“We had a couple of ugly performances early on and we’ve had other games where we haven’t had a full 80-minute performance but we’ve not been far away.
“The last couple of weeks has been a really good test of the squad’s depth. Sale is one of the hardest places to go and we’ll probably get them at full strength.
“That will just be another big challenge for us.”
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