Exeter Chiefs v Glasgow Warriors: Dave Rennie can still add to legacy

Dave Rennie and Stuart Hogg will be reunited at Sandy Park

A week that began with Glasgow organising their future with the appointment of Danny Wilson as Dave Rennie's end-of-season successor will end with them facing their past in the guise of a trip to Stuart Hogg's Exeter in a Champions Cup tie at Sandy Park.

It had to be, didn't it? As soon as Hogg walked out the door at Scotstoun it was almost pre-ordained that his old club would see him again soon, just as they did when Leone Nakarawa left town only for Glasgow to be playing against his new team, Racing, in Europe, a relative blink of an eye later.

Glasgow beat Racing twice in that campaign. How they would love if history repeated this time around. Hogg has made a bright start at Exeter where he ranks second in the Premiership stats for metres made with ball in hand (308m) and second in clean breaks (eight), but you only had to look at the smile on Rennie's face when asked about Hogg last week to know that the Warriors have cooked something up here.

"We love him, but I think you'll find he'll be facing a few high balls in the early minutes. He might have Ryan Wilson running at him. Wilson is very keen to see him again. He said even if he was injured he wanted to play in this one."

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All of that was said out of respect. Nobody knows more about Hogg's capacity for destruction than the players he'll be facing on Saturday. A few of the long-standing Warriors will also know that England has not been a happy hunting ground for them over the years. They've played 20 European matches at Saracens, Exeter, Leicester, Northampton, Bath, Wasps, Gloucester and Sale and they've lost 18 of them.

A demonic defence & ruthless forward power

It's curious how Exeter, a club that has one domestic league title to its credit and that has lost in the final of three more in the last four years, has singularly failed to make a dent on Europe. They've never won more than three group games in any one season and have only made the knockouts once. Of the 36 European ties they've played over they last seven seasons they've won just 14.

They're a magnificent club and would have won four leagues in a row if it wasn't for Saracens defeating them in three finals. That's the salary cap-busting Saracens. Last season Exeter topped the Premiership table after the regular season, scoring more tries than anybody else while conceding fewest points. They've become a machine under Rob Baxter, a relentless powerhouse of a side. They can play wondrous rugby, but their pack is the thing. It's the source of demonic defence and ruthless forward power that brings try upon try upon try.

Since the start of last season, Exeter's forwards have delivered a phenomenal try tally - 66 in all competitions. Of the 66, 30 came from their lethal back-row and 24 from their front-row. Those numbers are just a statistical reflection of the channelled aggression they have when close to an opposition line. To see it in the flesh is quite something. When Exeter have a five-metre lineout then the touch judges start to inch their way towards the posts for the conversion of a try everybody suspects is coming.

Glasgow are hardly slouches when it comes to forwards matching backs in the scoring duties - 44 in the same time period with with a 23-15 split between back-row and front-row - but Exeter's figures are off the scale. The sides that beat them are the ones that match them physically and deny them momentum and the kind of field position they feed off. It ain't easy.

The set-piece is like food and drink to Exeter, not that Glasgow need any reminding of it. These sides met in Europe two years ago with the results going with home advantage. Exeter scored six tries across the two games, five of the six coming from a prop, a lock, an openside and a number eight. None of them were what you might call epic scores. Grunt got the job done. The try-scorer had to cover no more than a couple of yards each time.

Rennie's legacy & Wilson becoming his own man

Rennie spoke about Glasgow's belligerence in the wake of their victory over Sale last Saturday. They had it in the first half and didn't have so much of it in the second half when the visitors brought in some heavyweights off the bench. Rennie is convinced that his team has the requisite power to deal with any rival in this competition and Exeter are one of the great tests of that.

The coach's own future is settled - it's been the subject of speculation for close to a year. Once he finishes with Glasgow at the end of the season he'll become Australia coach and Danny Wilson will take his place at Scotstoun.

That news dropped on Tuesday evening. You could say that lead balloons have landed with more subtlety. The Glasgow fans appeared to have two hopes here - either a coach of world renown in the Rennie mould or a promotion of one of their own home-grown coaches. In the end, they got neither. Wilson is not a name and he's not a local.

Danny Wilson, right, will take over from Dave Rennie next season at Glasgow

As head coach he did win a European Challenge Cup with Cardiff in 2017, but people seem to have forgotten that. The Blues beat Lyon, Toulouse, Sale, Edinburgh, Pau and Gloucester to take the title. No mean feat on a small budget.

The underwhelming response to his appointment is understandable, though, and it's tied up with his role as Scotland's forwards coach in a failed Six Nations and a dismal World Cup. Wilson is tainted by that. Maybe that's why he wanted to get out and be his own man again. He's no Rennie, but then Rennie has a bit to prove in this job as well.

He's got to one European quarter-final and one Pro14 final. That's not a huge return for one of the most respected coaches of his era. He won't be happy unless he puts a trophy in Glasgow's cabinet before he goes. The Champions Cup is surely beyond them, but a win on Saturday wouldn't half shake things up.