Communication ban ahead of Glasgow Warriors v Connacht - with no lack of motivation

As well as the prize of a place in the semis, family pride is also at stake as the match pits the Connacht boss against his son, Dan Lancaster, who could start at 10 for the Warriors.

The pair will keep their distance in the build-up to the game as Lancaster junior looks to get one over on his old man. It was Connacht who came out on top when the sides met in Galway in February so Dan will be looking to settle a score in the House of Lancaster.

“They've [faced each other] earlier in the season so it would be nice to make it 1-1 after this Friday,” said Glasgow assistant coach Scott Forrest.

“I think they're on a communication ban at the moment. They normally do speak quite regularly, but I'm pretty sure from last week there was no chat of rugby between the two of them.

“Listen, Dan's in a position where he knows what he needs to do. So he's not going to look at personal battles and individual battles. We know our strength is as a collective, it always has been, so that's got to be the focus for us.”

Dan played under his father last season at Racing 92 until Stuart parted company with the Paris club in February after a difficult run of results. He took over at Connacht last summer and has steadily improved the team’s form over the course of the campaign. They have won eight of their last nine games in the URC and that run includes an impressive win over the Stormers in South Africa and a convincing victory over Edinburgh at Hive Stadium.

They know how to win on the road and Forrest is a big admirer of the work done by the former England coach.

“With Stuart Lancaster going in there, sometimes it does take a little bit of time in terms of bedding in his systems on both sides of the ball,” said Forrest.

“When they beat us earlier in the season they then went on a really good run of wins, and I think they are the form team coming into the knockouts, even though they're coming in in eighth place. I don't think their form properly reflects that. So, we're under no illusions how difficult a task it's going to be. We lost over there earlier in the season. They're a very hard team to break down defensively, they fill the field well, they put bodies in the front line and we weren't able to break them down over there.

“So I think with the team that we roll out on Friday night, we know we're going to have to front up physically. It all starts there. We're going to have to dent some holes in their front line and their defence, otherwise it's going to be really difficult.”

Glasgow’s experience should tell

Glasgow finished top of the pile at the end of the regular URC season and have been over this course before, winning the title in 2024 and reaching the semis last year. They have retained the bulk of the trophy-winning squad and their experience should stand the club in good stead.

The home defeat by Toulon in the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup last month was a bitter pill to swallow for the Warriors who pride themselves on their form at Scotstoun but Forrest believes their extensive experience of knockout rugby will be invaluable.

“I think where we're fortunate is the core group of boys in here have been in this position many times,” said the defence coach. “They've been here when they've had success, but the flip side of that, they've also had disappointment. So, I think everyone's got a good understanding of what needs to be done.

“And I think the first thing is not looking too far ahead. We've already lost in the quarter-final of one competition this season, which hurt a lot, it took quite a big toll on a lot of the people in the building.

“So, it is very much just looking at Connacht this Friday and not trying to look any further past that.”

Glasgow followed the loss to Toulon with back-to-back defeats in South Africa to the Lions and Stormers but recovered to end the season strongly with wins over Cardiff and Ulster, securing first place in the URC for the first time. Forrest has been impressed with the durability shown by the squad.

“I think as hard as that was after Toulon, we all learned lessons from it. The coaching staff, the players, we all learned lessons. There's not a huge amount we would have changed going into the week. We didn't really talk any differently to how we did.”

He also believes they have benefitted from having a free weekend. “We were training at the start of last week and then the core group of boys who have been playing regularly had a break, so they had the end of the week off and the weekend off too. I think even this morning you can see everyone's just a little bit recharged, mentally as well as physically, which is good. You need it this week.”