TWO years on from their greatest triumph to date, Glasgow face an even greater challenge. Munster were tough but very familiar opponents in the 2015 PRO12 final: Saracens, who the Warriors meet in tomorrow’s Champions Cup quarter-final, are a significantly more formidable side, and also a relatively unknown quantity.

The occasion itself is a complete novelty, Glasgow’s only previous excursion beyond the pool stages in Europe having been their 90-19 thrashing by Leicester in the quarter-final play-off round all of 20 years ago. It was their 43-0 win against the Tigers at Welford Road back in January that confirmed the Warriors’ place in the last eight, and also showed that the biggest venues south of the Border need hold no fear for them.

But Saracens, the reigning European and English champions, are altogether more daunting opposition than Leicester have been this season - and unlike Glasgow are again within touching distance of the top of their league. Little wonder, then, that Gregor Townsend, while insisting his team had the ability to go to Allianz Park and win, accepted they would need to be at the absolute top of their game to do so.

“If you look at the stats, they’ve been the best in Europe over the past couple of seasons,” the Glasgow coach said of Saracens. “Before them it was Toulon, but Saracens have taken that mantle. They’ve been unbeaten for almost two years and that shows how hard they are to beat - not just the stats but the style of rugby they play.

“The way they play has been very successful. There are things they do very well, better than other teams - kicking, defence, set piece. Add in their individual players, guys who will be starting Tests for the Lions.

“It’s a quality side, and we’re excited about the challenge. We believe we have the quality and the players to win this game. We need to make sure our players go there with the belief to win.”

Sometimes kicking away possession from your own half is seen as a sign of weakness in a team, but Saracens have made it a strength because of the vigour with which they pursue the ball. The thrill of the chase for them is all too often the fear of being hunted for the opposition, who get possession back only to find themselves pressurised into making mistakes.

That can be a high-risk strategy, of course, particularly if they commit too many men to the front line, and that may have been one of the areas Townsend meant when he talked of the “opportunities” that his own side could find in the game. “We have to be able to impose our game,” he continued. “There are areas because of how they defend or play the game where there could be opportunities. We have to seize opportunities quickly.

“We have to be at the highest level of focus and communication ever. Underlying that has to be physicality. Thi is a team that prides itself on big hits and getting off the line. There are big men in their team, but we have big men as well.

“We’ve talked about what they do and how we’ll respond to it. Also, how we get our best game out, which is not just attack. There is a defence side and we’ve talked about how our defence can cause them problems. We believe we can win and we have to deliver our best performance to win.”

Nearly 6,000 Warriors fans will make the journey to north London, showing how much the club has grown in recent seasons. “It’s amazing,” Townsend said. “It gives us a huge boost. We had about 1,000 at Leicester and that gave the players a boost when they arrived. It gave us more energy.”

Townsend has recalled his internationals who were rested for the win against Connacht last weekend, the most notable return being that of Henry Pyrgos at scrum-half instead of Ali Price. Pyrgos’s co-captain, Jonny Gray, is back in the second row, where he will partner Brian Alainu’uese, who steps in for the suspended Tim Swinson.

Saracens have Scotland internationals Sean Maitland and Jim Hamilton in their starting line-up, with another two in Duncan Taylor and Kelly Brown on the bench. They also include several members of the England side that steamrollered Scotland in the Calcutta Cup last month - a match that Townsend hopes does not cast its shadow over tomorrow’s game, but is nonetheless a salutary reminder of how severely Scots sides can be punished by high-quality opponents if they fall short of their best form.

Glasgow Warriors (versus Saracens at Allianz Park, tomorrow, 1pm): S Hogg; T Seymour, P Horne, A Dunbar, L Jones; F Russell, H Pyrgos; G Reid, F Brown, Z Fagerson, B Alainu’uese, J Gray, R Harley, R Wilson, A Ashe. Substitutes: C Flynn, A Allan, S Puafisi, G Peterson, C Fusaro, A Price, N Grigg, R Hughes.

Saracens: A Goode; C Ashton, M Bosch, B Barritt, S Maitland; O Farrell, R Wigglesworth; M Vunipola, J George, J Figallo, M Itoje, J Hamilton, M Rhodes, J Wray, B Vunipola. Substitutes: S Brits, T Lamositele, V Koch, K Brown, J Conlon, B Spencer, A Lozowski, D Taylor.