Connacht head coach Stuart Lancaster has said they will approach Friday's BKT United Rugby Championship clash with Glasgow with a 'nothing to lose’ attitude as they aim to pull off an upset in Scotland.
The western province finished the league stage strongly to sneak into the quarter-finals in eighth position, and their reward is an away trip against the 2024 champions and this season’s league-stage leaders.
"It’s a very, very difficult place to go and win," Lancaster, said of their upcoming game at Scotstoun Stadium where the home side will likely boast his son Dan in their starting line-up.
"I went there with Racing in Europe and they absolutely smashed us and you saw what happened in Europe at the start of the season, they beat Toulouse, they beat Saracens comfortably.
"Scostoun is a pretty formidable place to go; they’ll be respecting us obviously, but equally we have nothing to lose.
"We’ve definitely got a lot of momentum behind us, we’ve a strong, confident group, we’re fit, we're in good shape and we’ll go there with confidence.
"We recognise the game here [February’s 15-10 win at Dexcom Stadium] was a turning point in our season, but we recognise a lot of good players weren’t playing in that game and we scored in the last play.
"It’s going to be a real challenge but it’s the one we’ve been building for this season."
Connacht’s last knockout game came in mid-April as they lost out 45-22 to eventual Challenge Cup champions Montpellier.
However, the race for quarter-final spots has been particularly dramatic this season with Connacht’s last few league games having an almost knock-out feel to them.
Lancaster said they will be ready for the pressures associated with the potentially season-ending encounter.
"Knock-out games are different, you’re not chasing bonus points or whatever, you just want to win the game," he said.
"I guess it’s the three points versus the kick to the corner mentality. For me, we’ve built our game all year on having an attacking mindset.
"Equally, we are reasonably pragmatic in our mindset, we’re not just going to run it from everywhere, we’re not just going to try and not build scores.
'We have nothing to lose' - Connacht target upset against Warriors in URC quarter-final #RTERugby #RTESport pic.twitter.com/Cb9jbSKwUD
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"The priority is to build pressure by building scores, which ultimately forces the opposition to play differently.
"Within that, you've got to make sure – particularly against a team like Glasgow – that you’re strong defensively because their DNA is to attack from everywhere."
Meanwhile, Glasgow hope to have Scotland trio Matt Fagerson, Jamie Dobie and Scott Cummings available for their tilt at United Rugby Championship glory.
Stand-off Dobie and lock Cummings have both been sidelined by injury since the Six Nations earlier this year, but have returned to training ahead of Friday's quarter-final.
