GLASGOW Warriors have been warned not to focus too intently on their first Heineken Champions Cup match against Saracens and lose sight of the danger they face a week later when they travel to Cardiff.
The Blues captain Ellis Jenkins remembers perfectly how his side brought the Scots down to earth with a bang the last time the teams met in the tournament when he was a raw 20 year old just making his way into the senior team.
"We won home and away," he recalled. "We will be looking to do the same again.
"We had lots of injuries so we just went for it. If you raise your game on any day you can compete with the best and that is what we will be trying to do again, make our performances as good as possible."
That was five years ago in the last year of the old-style Heineken Cup when each country was guaranteed a minimum representation in the top European tournament. Since then entry to the top-level competition has become entirely merit-based and Cardiff have found themselves on the outside. They qualified for this year's tournament as last season's Challenge Cup winners.
"You can tell the difference in terms of intensity and the big atmosphere. I was very young last time, My first game was Toulon away in front of 30,000 people. It was an insight into what European rugby was all about,"Jenkins added.
Which is one reason that though there is some Guinness PRO14 action to complete before the European event arrives – and Cardiff have an away game in Lyons to negotiate before they host Glasgow – excitement about that fixture is already beginning to build in that city.
"We start in Lyon and then have one of the best teams in the competition when we face Glasgow," said John Mulvihill. "It is at home, though, and the boys usually grow an arm and a leg at home. We will be looking forward to it.
"We are all starting to think about the Champions Cup now, though we need to get through the next week before we start.
"I don’t think too many of our players have been involved before. We have been out for five seasons, so we are looking forward to being there. I am excited to be involved and testing ourselves against the best in Europe."
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