Euro run can save Warriors’ season

GLASGOW WArriOrS are in uncharted territory after losing three Guinness Pro12 games in a row for the first time on Gregor Townsend’s watch.

Hardly ideal preparation for a looming double-header with French giants racing 92.

Townsend has already made history once by leading the club to their first ever league title in 2015.

if he’s serious about making history again by taking them to the knockout stages of European competition, he really has to get them firing for Saturday’s Champions Cup trip to Paris and next Friday’s return at Scotstoun.

Because winning these back-toback matches — as tough as that sounds after such a dismal league run — could be crucial in Glasgow’s bid to make the next round.

Warriors have undoubtedly suffered in the absence of their top Scotland players during the autumn Tests.

So there will never be a better time to regain their stride with the return to club action of Stuart Hogg, Finn russell, Jonny Gray and Zander Fagerson.

They will all relish the challenge of taking on one of the world’s top club sides, especially after playing so poorly in the French capital last time out.

Townsend’s men lost 34-10 at the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir in last season’s competition, at a time when racing were flying high and on their way to making the final. This season, however, the French have been a shadow of their former selves and currently sit eighth in the Top 14.

Granted, Glasgow aren’t exactly pulling up trees in the Pro12, where they’re lying sixth, but the sides are now much more evenly matched.

russell, who played in the centre in last January’s defeat, will be up against Dan Carter at fly-half for the first time at club level.

Gray, meanwhile, will go head-tohead with ex-Glasgow team-mate Leone Nakarawa, provided the big Fijian has recovered from an injury he picked up in the 23-23 draw at La rochelle last weekend.

Admittedly, most of the pressure will be on racing, who have played just one match in Pool One so far — a 27-17 defeat at Leicester Tigers.

But Glasgow, who kicked off with an emphatic 42-13 win over the English side before being brought back down to earth with defeat at Munster, have to get themselves back into the groove which made them a name to be feared.

Paris would be a good place to start as Townsend seeks to leave his stamp on club rugby in his final season in charge.