Glasgow Warriors warned 'no excuses' in South Africa by Pete Murchie

Glasgow fly out to South Africa on Tuesday and will be based in Johannesburg for the majority of their stay as they take on the Bulls and the Lions in difficult away matches. 

Northern Hemisphere teams have found it difficult to get results in South Africa since their inception into 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.

The 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. The Lions are still chasing a top eight spot too and will be hoping to get a 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.

READ MORE: How Glasgow Warriors prepare for altitude in South Africa

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 the 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 told 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.

“I think that’s five games now they’ve had without losing in South Africa. You can always learn lessons from teams who are successful and unsuccessful. There was the Munster game – I know there was a red card – and then the Ospreys game the week after.

“You learn different lessons. Munster have been show it can be done with the way they play, similar tactics. We’ve got a pretty clear plan for going over there and Munster have been shown it can be done.”

Glasgow have had injury issues over recent weeks, which resulted in the A team game against Stirling Wolves being postponed in the Sprint Series.

Franco Smith will have a number of players back for the South Africa trip, although the first game may come to soon for some of his squad.

Johnny Matthews has improved and should be available while the likes of Oli Kebble, Jamie Bhatti and Angus Fraser will also make the trip.

He continued: “Angus is back and Johnny is looking good. Much better than we thought or it could have been as it was quite a nasty twist. He’s close whether it’s right for this week or not. But he is going to South Africa.

“Oli’s much better than we probably thought on the night or a few days after the event. We’ve got lots of guys who are in and around it, even if it’s not going to be next week. Even the long-term guys. There are a few who will have a chance in  the next couple of weeks. Obviously we’re going to South Africa and you can only take a certain amount.

“We got a good training week in last week. Not being in Europe allowed us to rest the bodies at the weekend and get stuck into training today.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’d rather have been busy at the weekend. We want to be at the big games having watched them on television over the weekend.

“Ultimately we’d rather have been busy and having to manage the squad and all those nice problems. But you have to bat off with what you’ve got. We’re not in Europe any more and you have to take the positives from that.”