THIS is it for Glasgow Warriors: deliver or face the end of the last lingering, desperate hopes of the Guinness PRO12 play-offs. They are playing the team with only the two Italian franchises below it and don't just have to win, but have to start scoring tries as well.

If you want one single reason for the slump that has seen them lose three on the trot and drop from play-off favourites to total outsiders in the play-off race, the lack of tries is it.

Look at last week's game against the Ospreys. They had about 60 per cent possession and won the territory battle even more handsomely. They made 176 carries to only 91 by the opposition, they made 457 metres ball-in-hand while making more than twice as many passes and half as many tackles.

After all that, not only did they lose, but they lost comfortably with the Welsh picking up a scoring bonus point.

It is a problem Gregor Townsend, the head coach, acknowledges. "We have to be a bit more accurate in our attack and the shape we want to play with," he said. "At times we did not get that right.

"We need to make sure we are focused on every contact area. That is something we did maybe 90 per cent of the time but every so often we missed that opportunity to clear contact which could have brought a try.

"The pleasing thing about last week was that we controlled a lot of the game against a very good defence but we did not do enough to score more than two tries."

That really has been the story of the last month and while the loss of up to 16 players to international duty has not helped, he knows that they have to get back to their free-scoring form or accept that they will be going on holiday when the play-offs start.

For this game against the Newport Gwent Dragons, he does have the advantage of some extra firepower in the backs with Mark Bennett being released by Scotland, allowing Peter Horne to revert to fly half as he continues his march back to match fitness.

Outside, Lee Jones is determined to make his mark in the game where he wins his 50th club cap at the end of a week where he signed a two-year extension to his contract and the whole operation will be controlled by Henry Pyrgos, another released from the national squad, at scrum half.

The difficulties are illustrated in the forwards where the shortage of No.8s has forced Townsend to ask Richie Vernon to revert to that role, the position he used to play before converting to centre.

"There are a lot of similarities between centre and No.8," Townsend said. "We are expecting our centres and back row to many of the same things in terms of ball-carrying, contact and attacking ability. He has picked up the line out pretty quickly.

"Richie is excited about getting a chance to start. Nick Grigg has been in great form and Mark Bennett coming back means the centre position is very competitive. Richie has an opportunity to play and see how he goes at No8.

"We have Josh Strauss out injured too. You never know, if he performs well there, he comes into the mix in terms of our big games after the Six Nations including that one [in the European Champions Cup] against Saracens."

It is also a big game for Horne, who was second in line behind Finn Russell before getting injured. A good performance, masterminding a strong attacking showing, and he could put himself in contention for a place in the Scotland squad against England next week.

All of which pales into insignificance compared to the team's demands. They are 12 points off the play-off with six games left and have to overtake both Scarlets and Ulster to get there. Wins are no longer enough; they must win big.

Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie; L Jones, M Bennett, N Grigg, R Hughes; P Horne, H Pyrgos (C); A Allan, C Flynn, D Rae, T Swinson, B Alainu’uese, R Harley, S Favaro, R Vernon. Replacements: P MacArthur, J Bhatti, S Pufasi, S Cummings, C Fusaro, N Kenatale, B Thomson, R Tagive.

Newport Gwent Dragons: T Prydie; P Howard, T Morgan, S Beard, A Warren; A O'Brien, S Pretorius; S Hobbs, E Dee, B Harris, J Thomas, R Landman, O Griffiths, N Cudd, L Evans (C). Replacements: R Buckley, T Davies, L Fairbrother, M Screech, H Keddie, C Davies, D Jones, W Talbot-Davies.

Referee: A Brace (Ireland)