Murchie won’t accept excuses if Glasgow fall short in Africa
PETE MURCHIE has told Glasgow Warriors there can be no excuses when they travel to South Africa for a crunch double header in the URC.
Glasgow fly out to South Africa today and will be based in Johannesburg for the majority of their stay as they take on Bulls and Lions in difficult away matches.
Northern hemisphere teams have found it difficult to get results in South Africa since their introuction to the URC and Glasgow only have to look to the other side of the M8 for evidence of that, with Edinburgh losing three out of three in their away games this year.
Bulls in particular are a tough side to face at this stage of the season with them sitting fourth in the table and looking for a home play-off. Lions are still chasing a top-eight spot too and will be hoping to get the result they need to get closer to the teams currently occupying the play-off spots.
Munster are one of the few teams who have been successful in South Africa and beat the Bulls and Lions in recent weeks.
They’ve won their last five matches away in South Africa with wins over Stormers (twice), Bulls and Lions as well as a draw against Sharks and Murchie reckons that’s proof it can be done.
Often the talk around these trips is based on the altitude and weather conditions but the Glasgow assistant isn’t having it and insists can have no excuses about the circumstances if they don’t come away with what they hope for.
He said: “You could flip it the other way and they probably get how cold it’s going to be rammed down their throats whenever they come here.
“The altitude didn’t seem to affect us too much the last time. We just have to accept that it’s there but it’s been talked about that we’ve been preparing for that for a while. We just have to concentrate on the game and empty the tank. We can’t be thinking about altitude etc.
“Munster showed it can be done. They went over there and won two games. Ultimately if you want to finish high up in the league you need to pick up results in South Africa.
“Munster have done it, back to back with exactly the games as we’ve got. We’re going out there to give everything we’ve got. Certainly not going to use excuses of things like altitude that we know are there and will always be there. It’s pointless.”