European Challenge Cup: Glasgow Warriors given 'glorious' semi-final chance against Scarlets

Glasgow edged out Scarlets 12-9 at Scotstoun in the URC two weeks ago

In the middle of October 1996, Glasgow played their first-ever game in European competition, a madcap affair against Newbridge, bottom of the Welsh National League at the time, in the newly-formed Conference.

Precisely 100 points were scored, all tries and conversions. Glasgow won it 62-38. Kenny Logan and Gordon Bulloch scored two tries apiece. Derek Stark got four. From that day to this, Glasgow have tried to win a European trophy and have fallen dismally short for almost 30 years. There's been some quarter-finals, but never a semi-final. Until now.

On Saturday evening, the Warriors will be in Llanelli for a Challenge Cup semi-final with the Scarlets. Yes, it's Europe's second tier, but who cares?

This is a trophy that's previously been won by Leinster, who have won the main prize four times in their history. Wasps, Bath and Northampton have all won a Challenge Cup and a Champions Cup and wouldn't mind being where Glasgow are now.

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Nearly all the big hitters in France have either won, or lost, a Challenge Cup final, so this is rarefied air for Glasgow. They've never been here before and there's no guarantee that they'll ever be back here again in the playing lifetime of this squad. They'd better make the most of it while they can.

They're favourites, which is a reflection of their terrific consistency in recent months. For a veritable age, they've looked like a team that has forgotten how to lose. The hope for them is that they don't remember how it's done in the coming days.

No matter what combination of players Franco Smith has put out, they usually win. In their surge to fourth in the United Rugby Championship, and an upcoming home quarter-final against their best chums, Munster - they used 49 players. In their six games in Europe, they've used 43. Fringe men have played stellar roles in getting them this far.

Johnny Matthews, their third-choice hooker in terms of international experience and king of the line-out maul, is the joint-leading try-scorer in the tournament along with two wingers - Josh Adams of Cardiff and Wales and Jiuta Wainiqolo of Toulon and Fiji, a flying machine who won Olympic gold in the Sevens in Tokyo two years ago.

Glasgow have scored more tries than any other team (31) in their run to the semi-final. They've scored more points (211), their players have beaten more defenders (148) and have made more tackles (817). Every part of their game has been functioning well for quite some time.

If it's a dry night, they can play with pace and verve and score tries from the Gods. If the weather is foul, they can grind things out better than most. The return of Rory Darge from an injury that cost the back row most of the season has been huge.

Franco Smith has turned around Glasgow Warriors' fortunes this season

These are the best all-round performances Glasgow have put in since Davie Rennie took them to a Pro14 final in 2019. You have to go back to 2015, to when they won it under Gregor Townsend, to find another period when they've displayed this kind of sustained excellence either side of the ball.

The remarkable thing is that nobody saw any of this coming. The end of last season was infamously grim. A succession of losses from a team that had become a directionless mess cost Danny Wilson his job.

Those were dicey times for Glasgow. The club held a fans' forum that couldn't have been mistaken for a teddy bear's picnic. The questioning was serious. It was hard to know where Glasgow were and what they stood for anymore. They were at a crossroads.

The appointment of Smith didn't exactly spark jubilation. He was respected, but there was a feeling that the supporters had hoped for a bigger name. As it's turned out, he was exactly what they needed.

An experienced rugby think-a-holic, a guy who lives and breathes the game, a coach who wakes up in the middle of the night with ideas on how to get more from his players. And a tough nut.

"We were so disappointed in ourselves last season, just generally gutted," Fraser Brown, the veteran hooker, says. "We knew that our standards were nowhere near where they should be.

"It's easy to say that, but it's difficult to rectify it. It's not just about one person waking up in the morning and going 'that's not good enough'. We're talking collectively, a 45-man squad, coaches, staff all doing it. What we did last season wasn't acceptable and, as players, we needed to do something about it.

Sam Costelow is Scarlets' up-and-come star

"Franco would say that it made his job a bit easier knowing that he had a group of players that weren't looking to blame anyone else. He had a squad of players eager to improve. We knew we were nowhere fit enough, nowhere near strong enough.

"We did a lot of work on strength and conditioning, a lot of work on skillset. Our footwork has improved. All our props and second-rows, instead of running straight, there's a little bit of expression beforehand. That's why we get quick ruck ball to play with."

Fast ball is like oxygen to Glasgow and the Scarlets know it. For all the good things that Smith's team will bring to Llanelli, they'll know that their opponents, on their day, are an impressive outfit themselves.

Sam Costelow is the coming man at 10 for club and country and he has some smart footballers around him. Their second-rows, Vaea Fifita and Sam Lousi, and their number eight, Sione Kalamafoni, are cult heroes. They have the grunt up front to take it to Glasgow.

They had a hideous first half of their URC season, but their Challenge Cup quarter-final win over Damian Penaud's Clermont showed what they're capable of when they get it right. Clermont were down to 14 men for almost an hour and only lost with a last kick from Costelow, but it was still a marquee win.

They've also beaten Bayonne and the Cheetahs home and away en route to the semi. They beat the Bulls in January, Edinburgh in February and the Sharks in March. Of course, they also lost to the lowly Dragons in April.

This is a glorious opportunity for Glasgow, an eminently winnable European semi-final and, if they come through it, an eminently winnable final against Toulon or Benetton. The club has waited a long, long time for days like these.