Humphreys: Opportunity knocks during international window

Glasgow Warriors return to Guinness PRO14 action on Friday night when they take on Conference A rivals, Ospreys.

The Welsh side are just five points behind the Warriors and with a three-week international break following Friday’s game, Assistant Coach Jonathan Humphreys knows the importance of this match.

“It’s great that we’re in the Champions Cup quarter-finals, but for us at the moment it is vital that we front up and do well in this competition over the next few weeks,” said Humphreys.

“There are constant work-ons to be getting on with, which are going to be vital if we’re to beat any of the top teams in Europe, whether that is in the PRO14 or in the Champions Cup, so we need to be focussing on that every week.”

The Warriors have 21 players in the Scotland squad, but Humphreys knows that represents an opportunity for the players left behind, with four PRO14 games to be played during the Guinness Six Nations.

He added: “When it comes to the Guinness PRO14, these boys who are still with us are vitally important to what happens at the end of the campaign.

“We’re delighted with how we went in the Autumn, when our international players were away, and it’s a challenge for us to replicate that sort of form of intensity during this Six Nations window.

“We’re really, really confident in the squad we’ve got. We’ve still got a very, very good team left here. What we’ve done in the past is reward boys who have done well during this period, and the reward for playing well now could be a quarter-final spot against Saracens. That is obviously a massive carrot for all the younger players.”