GLASGOW Warriors’ defeat by Munster on Saturday night effectively sealed a fate that had looked increasingly inescapable for some weeks: for the first time in six seasons, barring a bizarre sequence of results, they will not compete in the PRO12’s end-of-season play-offs.

It is an undeniably disappointing end to Gregor Townsend’s time in charge of the team, but it will not overshadow the achievements of the past five years. Indeed, the remaining two home games - against Zebre on Friday and then Edinburgh on the first Saturday in May - will rightly be treated by the club’s supporters as celebrations rather than wakes.

The nature and size of that support is in itself testament to how much the Warriors have grown under Townsend, and that was never more apparent than in the recent Champions Cup match against Saracens, when around 6000 made the journey to Allianz Park. You would expect a decent travelling support for special occasions such as this, the club’s first quarter-final in Europe, but it was a remarkably large number all the same, and demonstrated how close a lot of the fans feel to the team. They don’t just saunter along to Scotstoun and expect to be entertained, they get behind their side in a far more active and vociferous way than Scottish rugby has been accustomed to.

The team’s success, and the exciting brand of rugby they play, has been the driving force in this growing fan base. Across Glasgow, and indeed well beyond, people feel proud of the Warriors - including many people who may have had no more than a passing interest in rugby beforehand. In the 20 years since the sport went professional, this is one of the most significant aspects of progress in Scottish rugby, proving that if you get the product right you can persuade people to change their habits and take up something new.

It is by no means an easy achievement to emulate, and it will be interesting to see how quickly attendances drop off if and when the Warriors hit a sticky patch: even former European champions such as Munster, for example, find that enthusiasm wanes and crowds dwindle when they are no longer competing at the business end of major tournaments. But Munster’s main venue, Thomond Park in Limerick, has a capacity of around 25,000 - around three times that of Scotstoun. A poor run might see Glasgow fail to sell out a few games, but if they continue to grow their fan base as they have been doing, the real problem in two or three years could be finding a way to pack everyone into their existing ground, or even finding a new and bigger venue to call home.

That, then, is part of Townsend’s legacy, to be inherited in the summer by incoming head coach Dave Rennie. The other is the positive ethos of the playing squad: hard-working, highly motivated, and self-critical when necessary, but always in a positive way.

In his public pronouncements before and after matches, Townsend himself exemplifies the kind of positive self-criticism that works best. Whatever may be said behind closed doors, he never slates players in press conferences. He will admit mistakes have been made, of course, but will not single individuals out - other, that is, than himself, because he often puts the team’s failings down to things he has got wrong either tactically during the match or in the way he prepared the squad in the days leading up to it.

Having said all that, it seems pretty clear that now is the right time for Townsend to move on. Five years is a relatively long time in charge of a team, even when major success is achieved, and the kind of overhaul that the Warriors squad now needs tends to be best done by a new coach.

As he turns 44 later this month, the former stand-off could easily have another 20 years left in the game, which is one reason why some of us thought he could easily have waited a few years before becoming head coach of Scotland. But at least by taking on the top job now, Townsend will benefit from a lot of continuity: he knows the Glasgow squad extremely well, has a good working knowledge of Edinburgh too, and so should hit the ground running when he takes over from Vern Cotter in time for the summer tour to Singapore, Australia and Fiji.

Those Warriors players who want to be on that tour are unlikely to slacken off against Zebre, in a match which should produce a bonus point. Even if that happens, however, results elsewhere could confirm that Glasgow will finish the season in sixth - one place ahead of defending champions Connacht.

The season began with hopes of higher things, of course, so even resounding wins against the Italians then Edinburgh will come tinged with sadness. But, while Townsend is about to close the book on his time with the team, the Warriors squad and supporters will see it as just the end of a chapter, with many exciting episodes still to come.