After scoring another try in Friday’s win over Zebre, Johnny Matthews believes Glasgow Warriors are in a good place as they prepare for a return to South Africa, where the hooker hopes they can quell any notion their United Rugby Championship (URC) triumph in June was a flash in the pan.

Matthews says Glasgow feel disrespected by the idea from South Africa that the Bulls threw away June’s final, rather than it being the Warriors who took the initiative to win the title.

After Friday’s 33-3 win, which put the Warriors temporarily back to the summit of the URC table, Matthews is looking forward to the challenge of facing the Sharks and Stormers on their own turf over the next two weekends.

“We had a good time last time we went,” said the hooker when asked about the prospect of returning to South Africa. He added: "I think we’ve got a target on our backs now, particularly with the South Africans.

“We got written off in that final against the Bulls and people think it was a fluke we won – it’s quite disrespectful, so we want to go over there and prove a point that it wasn’t a one-off. “If we can go and get some points on the board, it sets us up going into December and the latter end of the season."

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If Glasgow can return with two wins, Matthew admitted it would be a big statement to the rest of the league.

He said: “It will put us right near the top of the table, six games in and having been to South Africa. We couldn’t really be in a better place. “If we can go over there and get five wins out of six having been to [South] Africa, we’ll be looking pretty positive I’d say."

Franco Smith described Friday’s performance as “workmanlike” and while Matthews didn’t offer his own assessment, he feels the Warriors have some way to go before they are at their best.

“You get five points at home and stop a team scoring [a try], it’s always a positive,” Matthews said of Friday’s win.

“We wanted to right the wrongs of some of the defensive stuff from last week. There was some good goal-line sets at the end. It puts us in a good space.

“There’s more to grow but we corrected some wrongs from last week."

And while from the outside looking in, Matthews is the clear first-choice hooker following the departure of George Turner and Fraser Brown’s retirement, he doesn’t see it that way, partly owing to Franco Smith’s policy of rotation.

“Gregor [Hiddleston], Angus [Fraser] and Grant [Stewart] are all excellent hookers,” the Liverpool-born hooker said. “We’ve always spoken about being a unit and anyone could go in and do a job.

“Franco is quite happy with anyone which is positive because you know you’re not going to have to play every game."

It is just over a year since Matthews won his one Scotland cap, off the bench against Romania at the Rugby World Cup. With Dave Cherry seemingly out of the picture and Ewan Ashman currently side-lined, plus Turner in Japan, the Glasgow man is likely to be in Gregor Townsend’s squad later this month. Eyebrows were raised when he didn’t make the summer tour party, but as Matthews explained, he wasn’t available.

“I had an ankle reconstruction three days after the final,” the hooker said. "My ankle was giving me quite a lot of bother towards the end of last season. It was the right time to do it. I feel much better now."

And Matthews insists he is focusing on his own game with Glasgow rather than the possibility of earning further international honours next month.

He said: "I don’t think too far ahead. I’ve always said I want to just focus on Glasgow and if anything else comes off the back of it, brilliant, but if not we’re in a good position here."