HOOKER Pat MacArthur is sure that Glasgow Warriors can make their big-match experience count against Connacht on Saturday - provided, that is, they keep control of their emotions.

The Warriors have to go back to the Sportsground for the PRO12 semi-final as a result of losing there two weeks ago in a match which saw Sila Puafisi red-carded in the second half. The prop is banned from this weekend’s game, and will also have to sit out the final at Murrayfield if the champions get through, but according to MacArthur he is doing everything he can in training to help his team-mates prepare.

The most useful assistance this week, however, is likely to come from the collective memory banks of the squad themselves. While Connacht are through to the play-offs for the first time, this is the fifth consecutive year in which the Warriors have made it.

“Hopefully that experience, of being in the final twice as well, will help us,” MacArthur said yesterday. “Knowing how we should be feeling, how we should be dealing with it, and how best to use that feeling.

“There is a big, passionate crowd [at the Sportsground], but sometimes that spurs you on as well. We had a great Glasgow following that we’ll get again.”

The passion that the Warriors always put into their play was misdirected at times during their 14-7 defeat, not only by Puafisi but also by Jonny Gray, who conceded a penalty that resulted in one of Connacht’s two tries. Gregor Townsend has stressed the importance in the coming game of emotional control, and MacArthur agreed that maintaining some sort of composure amidst the mayhem was vital.

“The boys just tried too hard on occasions,” he reflected on that loss. “That’s the best way to put it. We have to understand that we push ourselves to the limit, but not over that. That’s where that control has to come.

“It shows how much it means to the boys in the squad. You’ve heard many a time how we create a culture, a family, when we drive each other. We all buy into everything.

“When Gregor talks about emotional control, he knows how much it means to us every game. And he’s trying to say use it to our advantage rather than distract us from what we’ve been planning.”

On Monday Puafisi was given a three-week suspension for the head butt that got him sent off in the second half 11 days ago. At a hearing in Cardiff he accepted that he had committed an act of foul play that deserved a red card, and the PRO12 disciplinary committee ruled that the offence should be deemed a lower-end offence. That would normally incur a four-week ban, but it was reduced by a week for what were called “various mitigating factors”.

That apparent leniency is no practical use to the Warriors, who would almost certainly have included the Tongan international in their squad. But at least Puafisi is doing what he can in training to help his team-mates prepare.

“He’s a passionate, big man,” MacArthur continued. “He came here at the start of the season and he loves the club and playing for the boys. After the game he was truly gutted.

“He said he was gutted that he had put the rest of us under pressure. That was his main message. He said he would work his hardest to make it up to us all.

“When he spoke to the boys he was down. He said he would do his best in the scrum sessions. He knows that’s where he can help, because he can’t play - that’s where he’ll give his all. That’s how our team work. The boys not selected give their all to push the starting boys.”

Connacht issued a fitness bulletin yesterday, declaring props Rodney Ah You, Finlay Bealham and Ronan Loughney all available for selection. Stand-off Craig Ronaldson has also been passed fit.

Meanwhile, the Warriors have agreed a pre-season friendly with Harlequins at the Stoop on 20 August. The match is part of the London club’s 150th-anniversary celebrations.

BLOB: Geoff Cross, the former Scotland prop, has announced his retirement from all rugby. The 33-year-old prop, who won 40 caps, now plans to resume his medical career.

Cross spent the last two seasons at London Irish, having previously been with Edinburgh for eight years. He also played for the Borders, and was briefly on loan to Glasgow towards the end of his time with the capital team.

First capped in 2009, he made his final international appearance last year. “Representing my country was the pinnacle of my career, and to have played 40 times for Scotland fills me with immense pride,” Cross said yesterday. “I feel the time is now right to move my attention towards returning to medicine, which I intend to achieve by next summer.”