HISTORY counts for nothing. So said Dave Rennie, the Glasgow Warriors head coach, as he stuck largely with the team that has been winning but underperforming ahead of tomorrow's visit of league leaders Munster.
The men from Limerick have become something of a bogey team for Glasgow, winning five out of the six encounters since the Scots beat them to win the 2015 PRO12, including all four fixtures last season in the league and the European Champions Cup.
The big worry for Rennie, though, is that, barring the match played in a wave of exceptional emotion after the death of Anthony Foley, the Munster coach, all the games have been tight yet it has been the Irish who have shown they understand the knack of winning.
The pattern has been simple. For 70-something minutes there has been nothing to choose between the teams. But when it comes to crunch time, it has been Munster who have consistently produced the goods: a late drop goal here; a penalty or try there, to snatch the result.
It means this fixture marks the first big test of whether Rennie has been able to reinstall the winning mentality sufficiently enough. They have shown they can do it against lesser opposition but now the test is to manage it against a team that is also unbeaten in the Guinness PRO14 and has a pedigree of pulling out performances at the highest level.
Apart from that one thrashing, the biggest winning margin for either side in the last two seasons has been three points and the average winning margin is by two. Looking at that, the law of averages says the results tally should be just about even, not the five-one margin in Munster's favour.
This season, Glasgow seem to have rediscovered the winning knack. They have not dominated a game so far, but still boast a 100 percent record with the try count eight-two in their favour. Once – or should that be "if" – the passes start to stick, they should be a threat to any opposition.
"We are happy we won the first three, but we are measuring things by our own standards," Rennie said. "We have defended with a lot of character and only conceded two tries but we haven’t held on to the ball for long enough. Last week we created a lot of opportunities but just weren’t clinical enough, that has probably been the theme of the first three weeks.
"Now, we are going to come up against a very strong defensive side. It will be a great test for us. If we can hang on to the ball, then we can put them under a bit of pressure. When you play the top sides you might only get two or three opportunities. You’ve got to grab them. That’s certainly something we have talked about.
"We are happy in one perspective, we have won games without playing at our best, have shown a bit of character and found ways to win. That attitude is going to be important."
Victory over one of their strongest rivals would firmly establish Glasgow as one of the conference favourites, particularly since they have already beaten the Ospreys, who were expected to be the other main threat.
To achieve that, Rennie has shown his loyalty to the players who have been getting those results without producing their best rugby.
Up front Ryan Wilson, the captain, returns after missing last week with a neck strain and is the only change to the pack. Behind, Ali Price returns at scrum half after being rested and Rory Hughes to the wing after recovering from the knee problem that forced him off against the Ospreys.
"I thought he [Hughes] was excellent against Ospreys. It is going to be a really physical battle and he brings a bit of edge. He will chase everything and he will be physical. He’s got an attitude that going to be important coming up against a side that will really try to muscle up," Rennie observed.
The other big change is in midfield where Alex Dunbar has a knee injury – Rennie says he is still waiting for the medical assessment but fears it could rule him out for several weeks – allowing Peter Horne to return to partner Nick Grigg in the centre.
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