Glasgow Warriors coach ‘interested’ to see how Scarlets are refereed at the breakdown in Euro semi

Pete Murchie, the Glasgow Warriors assistant coach, believes the breakdown will be key against the Scarlets on Saturday and has urged match referee Mathieu Raynal to keep a close eye on the Welsh side’s jackal technique.

Warriors’ Sione Vailanu scores a try against Scarlets when the sides met at Scotstoun in the URC on April 14. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

The Warriors are bidding to reach a European final for the first time in their club’s history and have recent experience of playing Scarlets. The sides met in the United Rugby Championship at Scotstoun earlier this month, with the home side edging it 12-9 amid a biblical downpour on the west side of Glasgow. This weekend’s rematch in the Challenge Cup semi-final will take place at Parc y Scarlets where the Scarlets will be backed by a noisy home crowd and Murchie expects there to be a bit more edge to the game. He also had some basic advice for the Glasgow players. “First of all, enjoy it,” said the coach. “It’s a privilege to be involved in knockout rugby; it’s obviously what you want to be involved in. Don’t over-egg it as well, I’d say. We want to stick with what has got us to this point. At the same time, there will be a bit more edge. Scarlets I’m sure will have an edge - it’s a semi-final and they look like selling it out.

“We had a bit of a dress rehearsal here the other week even though it was a monsoon. They went hard at our breakdown. Double jackals. It will be interesting to see how that gets refereed. There has been a fair amount put out about jackal technique and stuff. Whether they adapt, I’m not sure. They’ve got some good guys in and around the breakdown so the game is pretty simple. It’s based on collisions and your breakdown needs to be sharp. We’re in attack trying to play with quick ball, they’re trying to slow it down, it’s who can do that better.”

Glasgow have been unbeatable at Scotstoun this season but their record on the road is pretty decent also, and far improved from last season. They’ve won six of their 11 away games, including two in the Challenge Cup, against Bath and Perpignan. It has been one of the key transformations made by Franco Smith since taking over as head coach, although even he took a while to shake the monkey off their backs - Glasgow lost their first five away games under him. Murchie says there is no great secret. “It’s just about belief in the work we put in. We were 31-0 up away from home against Munster, so we’ve shown we can transfer that [home form]. Outside the first couple of games of the season where we were maybe inconsistent, we have changed that aspect and shown we can way away games. We have won six away from home this season which is an awful lot more than last year. You’ve obviously got a few more people against you in the crowd but apart from that, it’s a mindset and trusting what we do. There’s a reason why we’re a good team, a reason why we are doing well in the league and have got to a semi-final. We’ve just got to leave it out there. There is no magic wand to it.”