GLASGOW Warriors have fought their way into the PRO12 play-off places with a run of six wins in a row - and now a seventh tonight against Zebre will take them closer to their goal of a top-two finish and a home semi-final in the play-off.

Once this game in hand is out of the way, the Warriors still have to play third-placed Scarlets and second-placed Connacht, both away, as well as welcoming Zebre to Scotstoun in three weeks. After languishing in mid-table for months, they are now back close to their best form, and have given themselves an excellent chance of taking their defence of the title into the play-offs.

“We know that we have now created an opportunity,” head coach Gregor Townsend said yesterday after announcing a much-altered side from the one that beat Treviso in the first game of their mini-tour of Italy last Saturday. “I think a lot of teams will say that their destiny is in their hands - well, it’s certainly in ours.

“We want to win all our remaining games to get a home semi-final, because we’ve got Connacht and Scarlets to play – who are above us in the league. But they’ll say the same thing – if they win all their games then they’ll get a home semi-final, so there’s still a lot of rugby to be played. But we’ve created an opportunity and we just have to keep working and keep improving until we get there.”

Townsend has made eight changes to his starting line-up, with five of them coming in the backs. Tommy Seymour is on the left wing, Alex Dunbar plays at centre, Duncan Weir and Ali Price form a new half-back pairing, and Glenn Bryce is named at full-back instead of Stuart Hogg. In the pack, Leone Nakarawa replaces Tim Swinson, Rob Harley comes in for Josh Strauss, and Ryan Wilson is preferred to Adam Ashe at No 8. Hooker Pat MacArthur is named among the replacements after recovering from a hamstring injury that has kept him out for two months.

There is strong back-up on the bench if required in the shape of players such as Finn Russell and Mark Bennett, but it is still a testament to the strength in depth of the Warriors squad that Townsend can afford to leave out internationals of the quality of Hogg, Strauss and Sean Lamont. Most of this week’s changes were planned before the 35-man squad set out for Italy, including the decision to rest Hogg from this game against the PRO12’s second-bottom club.

“We planned Stuart’s post-Six-Nations rugby and discussed it with him and how he’s feeling,” the head coach continued. “Getting back straight away for the Ulster game and playing so well in that match and against Treviso gave him a focus, but we know that players like Stuart can’t play more than four or five games in a row.”

The Zebre team includes Leonardo Sarto, the winger who will join the Warriors in the summer. The match, which was postponed from January to allow the Warriors to play their rescheduled European match against Racing 92, is not being shown on UK television.

Glasgow Warriors (v Zebre at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, tonight, 6.30pm British time): G Bryce; T Naiyaravoro, A Dunbar, P Horne, T Seymour; D Weir, A Price; G Reid, F Brown, S Puafisi, L Nakarawa, J Gray, R Harley, S Favaro, R Wilson. Substitutes: P MacArthur, J Yanuyanutawa, Z Fagerson, G Peterson, A Ashe, H Pyrgos, F Russell, M Bennett.