Richie Gray knows Glasgow Warriors can take heart from the way they stood up to Munster's physical challenge in Saturday's semi-final win at Thomond Park as they prepare for a trip to South Africa in the final.
Gray and his pack colleagues refused to be pushed around by the home side as they recorded a famous 17-10 win to knock out the defending champions.
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He said: “It was a hostile environment against Munster, who are kings of the ‘dark arts’, with the crowd behind them – to come here and get the job done, despite going down to 14 men twice, is a statement.
“We spoke at length last week about how we handle pressure. It’s a bit of a weird thing to say but you can almost want it too much and you do things out of character, whereas it should be about sticking to our game-plan, playing to the bst of our ability, and hopfully that is enough to come out on top.”
They singled out Ireland captain Peter O'Mahony - so often the barometer of physicality and street-smarts for the teams he plays in - for special attention.
“I think so. He’s been there and done it, a master of the dark arts, great at getting the ref onside, slowing the game down, going down with a sore hamstring so that the referee can view the big screen replay – he knows what he’s doing. But I think, to a man, all the boys stood up to the confrontation.”
"Some of our work at the breakdown was excellent – Munster caused us a lot of issues with their counter-rucking and coming through on the nine, but we did the same to them."
Having played in France for a number of years and with Scotland since 2010, Gray has been in plenty of hostile environments over the course of his career.
He said Thomond Park was particularly partisan on Saturday.
"Obviously the crowd get behind the decisions and increase the pressure, but I think the guys handled it really well, coming together in huddles, small conversations, keeping each other focused on what is coming next and what we need to do.”
The 34-year-old was proud of the way Glasgow embraced the hostility of the occasion.
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"If you are playing Munster at Thomond Park, you have to go toe-to-toe, you can’t stand back and let them dictate. You probably shouldn’t get yellow-cards because that doesn’t make it any easier, but it was physical, it was confrontational and the boys barred up.”
The 2013 British and Irish Lion only made his return from a bicep injury in the last game of the regular season against Zebre and believes he - like the team - are in good shape going into the final at Loftus Versfeld next weekend.
“I had a bit of an injury lay-off so I am just trying to get back in the swing of things.
“I’m getting there and will continue to build – but what an opportunity.
"How lucky are we to be in a situation where we can go down and have a crack at the Bulls for a final in the URC? It is fantastic and hopefully we can put a performance in to make everyone proud.
"The one thing Franco has said is that travel is not an excuse – this is what we have to do. Munster went down there and did a job last year with the travel, so it is not an excuse.
"I’m sure the S&C team will get it right again, and we’ve been prepping behind the scenes for a long time to cope with the challenges like altitude, so we’ve got all the tricks up our sleeve to make sure we are as ready as we can be."
Gray has already tasted title success, winning the Top 14 during his stint with Toulouse, but the Scotland veteran admitted to win the United Rugby Championship with Glasgow Warriors, his hometown club, would mean a lot.
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He's not looking too far ahead, though, with the Bulls to come in Pretoria next Saturday evening.
“It’s a big opportunity and it is something we want to do as a club," he said.
Gray added: "It has been a massive squad effort. The boys work bloody hard and it is great to see so many guys growing. When you look at Max Williamson come off the bench and throw his body about like that, it is superb.
“The squad has really grown through working hard, but we don’t deserve anything – we need to fight for the win you want to lift trophies.
“We need to prepare well for this Bulls game and hopefully we can go out and put in a good performance.
“It would be great, but let’s not get carried away. We have to go down there and out in a performance.”
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