'Building for this' - Glasgow Warriors relishing quarter-final against Champions Cup 'powerhouse'

The centre stepped out of the long shadow cast by his more celebrated midfield team-mates Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu and delivered a player-of-the-match performance in the 25-21 win over the Bulls in the Investec Champions Cup last-16 clash at Scotstoun.

Their reward is another home tie in the quarter-finals, this Saturday against Toulon, who edged out the Stormers 28-27 at Stade Mayol.

Glasgow and Toulon are regular foes in the Smith era, having met in the 2023 Challenge Cup final in Dublin and twice more in the Champions Cup over the next two seasons. The French side won the former comfortably 43-19 in Smith’s first season in charge, but Glasgow gained a measure of revenge by winning 29-5 in 2024 in a pool stage match at Scotstoun. Toulon came out on top 30-29 last season at Stade Mayol, again in a group game.

It’s fair to say the Warriors have come a long way since that chastening defeat at the Aviva three years ago.

“I don't think there'll be much talk about that game this week,” said McDowall who came off the bench to replace Domingo Miotti at 10 in the 2023 final. “I think in Franco's [pre-Bulls] team talk, he was like, we've not just been building for this season, it feels like we've been building for this for three years.

“Like [captain] Kyle Steyn said, we've not won anything yet, so there's no pressure on us. Like we said, a powerhouse like Toulon coming to Scotland and having to travel to us, it's a massive thing for the club, the fanbase, all the players.”

McDowall scored the last of Glasgow's four tries against the Bulls, following on from scores by Max Williamson, Jack Dempsey and Patrick Schickerling, a conversion by Dan Lancaster and a late penalty from Adam Hastings. The Bulls, who led 14-12 at half-time, scored two tries through Johann Grobbelaar and Marco van Staden and relied heavily on the boot of Handre Pollard who kicked three penalties. David Kriel added a conversion.

Toulon are three-time winners of the Champions Cup and, although the last triumph came 11 years ago, they have a European pedigree that demands respect. It’s an occasion to be relished for Glasgow who are also flying high at the top of the United Rugby Championship in a season full of promise.

“When you get a team like Toulon, I think we're all saying it's almost nice to play a team not from your league. It's what the Champions Cup knockout has, what you want to be doing.

“We had a game against them last year over there and came really close. They've had a tough couple of weeks with what's been going on behind the scenes but they've obviously rallied really well to beat a really, really good Stormers team at home. We know what Toulon's DNA is. Their DNA is Champions Cup wins. I don't know who you'd call who the favourite is next week but they'll certainly be coming here believing in themselves.”

The issues McDowall refers to were regarding Toulon’s coach Pierre Mignoni, who took a break from the job in February after suffering what he described as “a breakdown”. Happily, Mignoni was able to return to the job last month but the episode brought into sharp focus the stress and workload associated with the head coach’s job.