Glasgow Warriors v Racing 92 Champions Cup preview
By Robert Mulhern
Last Updated: 23/01/16 5:00pm
Glasgow Warriors' head coach Gregor Townsend has promised Racing 92 a difficult final-round Champions Cup assignment.
Warriors need to produce a bonus-point-winning performance over Racing 92 and hope other results go their way if they are to advance to the quarter-finals.
It's a huge ask for the PRO12 champions, even though Pool 3 winners Racing - who have already secured a home quarter-final - have rung the changes for this final round visit to Kilmarnock.
To be in with a squeak of qualifying the hosts need to claim five match points and for second-placed Northampton Saints to pick up nothing from their match against Scarlets.
If that unlikely combination of events came to pass, Glasgow would also require a host of other results to go their way to secure a runners-up spot.
Racing moved imperiously into the Champions Cup quarter-finals with a record-breaking win over the Scarlets last weekend, but Townsend has promised a a tricky final assignment, at the very least.
"We'll be playing a quality side and we will be trying to get a win - our fans deserve that," said Townsend.
"It will be an exciting fixture for everyone, especially as we're expecting a big crowd at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock.
"It is an important game for us as we want to put in a good performance. A quality playing surface and quality opposition should bring out the best in the squad."
The game has been switched to the all-seater Rugby Park stadium in Kilmarnock because of the poor state of the Warriors' Scotstoun pitch.
Racing are unbeaten in their last 11 Champions Cup pool matches and are, according to Scarlets' skipper Ken Owens, "the best team in Europe".
They beat the current PRO12 leaders 64-14 in Paris last weekend.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13 Alex Dunbar, 12. Samuel Johnson, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 1 Alex Allan, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 3 Sila Puafisi, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Jonny Gray (c), 6 James Eddie, 7 Simone Favaro, 8 Leone Nakarawa.
Replacements: 16 James Malcolm, 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Lee Jones.
Racing 92: 15. Brice Dulin; 14 Louis Dupichot, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Alexandre Dumoulin, 11 Marc Andreu; 10 Remi Tales, 9 Maxime Machenaud (c); 1 Julien Brugnaut, 2 Camille Chat, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 4 Luke Charteris, 5 Francois van der Merwe, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 8 Chris Masoe.
Replacements: 16. Virgile Lacombe, 17 Davit Khinchagishvili, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Thibault Dubarry, 20 Juandre Kruger, 21 Xavier Chauveau, 22 Etienne Dussartre, 23 Benjamin Dambielle.
Watch Glasgow Warriors v Racing 92 live on Sky Sports 4 HD on Saturday from 17.15pm. Catch the match for £6.99 on NOW TV. No contract.