Rennie warns his Warriors there is no room for error

DAVE RENNIE admits his Glasgow team will get away with nothing less than 100-per-cent effort in their Heineken Champions Cup opener with Saracens at Scotstoun.

The Kiwi and his coaching staff will consider the failings of Warriors’ stuttering first-half performance in last Friday’s 36-8 Pro14 win over Zebre and hammer home to the players that they can’t be repeated against the English giants this weekend.

‘In our competition, you can operate at less than 100 per cent and still get a job done, but you can’t in Europe,’ said Rennie. ‘It’s different. It’s quite unique, you’ve got three different competitions running and then everything stops for Europe.’

Despite a disastrous defeat to the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth, Glasgow are otherwise unbeaten in the league and there is evidence of growth and experienced heads within the team, illustrated by impressive wins against Connacht and European stalwarts Munster.

‘I’m a coach, so I’ll always worry, but we’ve worked really hard and we think we’ve made some shifts in our game against good sides, though you’ve got to be consistent for 80 minutes,’ said Rennie.

‘I harp back to Munster when we played them, probably the biggest-name team we’ve played so far and our preparation was excellent and the line speed was great. That’s what you need in big games. We’re going to have to replicate that.

‘They (Saracens) will ask a lot of questions but it’s what you want. We want to play against the best sides in Europe and find out a bit about ourselves. It’s a great challenge.’

Rennie has urged his players not to focus on who they are playing but to look within their own squad for inspiration.

And with the reigning English champions up first in their European campaign on Sunday, Rennie has no doubt his team will be fired up and eager to perform.

‘What we have focused a lot on is, regardless of who we are playing, let’s have a respect for ourselves and know that we’ve got to work hard for each other,’ he said.

‘To be competitive this weekend, we have to be at our best. That’s what big sides bring out of you. Certainly there’s no worry about complacency heading into a game against Saracens, that’s for sure.’

In a bid to recharge his team’s batteries, the coach has spent much of the week with them at a training camp in Largs.

‘We just wanted to do something different, to try to make this competition special, a chance to spend a little more time together,’ said Rennie. ‘We want to have a chance to reflect on all the hard work we’ve done and little shifts we still need to make in a game and what’s going to be important this weekend.’

Edinburgh back-row Magnus Bradbury, meanwhile, believes the capital side can pull off a shock victory over Vern Cotter’s mighty Montpellier when they kick-off their Euro campaign in France on Saturday.

‘It does not matter what other people say. It’s about how we prepare and how we perform,’ said the Scotland international. ‘We’re a good rugby team and I believe, if we get it right, we can beat them. ‘It will be a great occasion as they are a big team and it’s a difficult place to go, but it’s an exciting proposition.’

Edinburgh face a real test up front with the likes of No 8 Louis Picamoles among the back-row men in line to start for Montpellier. Bradbury is likely to be on one flank with Hamish Watson on the other for the visitors and Bill Mata going head to head with Picamoles.

‘They present a physical challenge but we can be a physical team when we want to be,’ added Bradbury.

Although Edinburgh have secured bonus-point wins in their last two Pro14 fixtures against Benetton and the Cheetahs, they also lost concentration for short periods which let the opposition back into the match.

‘It’s about fronting up for 80 minutes rather than having a ten-minute lapse in concentration that lets other teams back into the game,’ he said.

‘We were all over the Cheetahs in the first half and should have scored two or three more tries. Then those ten minutes post-half time, they scored two quick tries and we allowed them back into the game.

‘We switched off the physical side of our game and it cost us tries. We can’t do that against Montpellier.’