MOST players go through their entire careers without enjoying the kind of triumph Glasgow achieved on Saturday.

Finn Russell has experienced it in just his second full year with the Warriors.

The Scotland stand-off denied Munster's hopes of mounting a fightback in the PRO12 final in Belfast, scoring his team's fourth try with around 20 minutes to play.

First-half scores from Rob Harley, DTH van der Merwe and Henry Pyrgos, all converted by Russell, had put Glasgow in command of the match at the Kingspan Stadium.

But an Ian Keatley penalty and a converted try from Andrew Smith had got Munster back in contention before, and then another three points from Keatley after the break threatened to derail Glasgow's progress towards a first title.

But then Russell stepped in, for what Warriors coach Gregor Townsend later called the decisive moment.

There was still a lot of work to do after that try, but the Warriors were well on top in the closing stages, and substitute Duncan Weir had the last word with a late penalty.

Glasgow were champions, winning 31-13 - a margin that was bigger than all but their most optimistic fans had thought possible.

"I think it will take a while to really sink in," Russell said as the celebrations began. " It was brilliant and I think the boys deserve it.

"To beat Munster the way we did in the final is just fantastic. It's lucky that I broke in last year and managed to keep my spot for the majority of this year.

"The disappointment of losing last year then getting the win this year - a lot of guys could go through their whole career without that. I'm just really grateful that the boys have stuck in and managed to get the result.

"I think I've only played 31 or 32 games for Glasgow, so I'm still pretty inexperienced at this level."

The PRO12 title is the first European trophy won by a Scottish team in rugby's professional era, and according to Russell he and his team-mates should see it as potentially the first of many.

Indeed, he believes that now the duck has been broken, not only Glasgow but also Edinburgh and the national team itself should be able to feel genuinely more hopeful about the future.

"Next season we've got to target the same result in the Pro 12 and do better in the European Cup. This year we were close to getting out the group, but next year we need to have that as a focus as well and really push to get out the group.

"I think this is actually a great boost for Scottish rugby. To be the first Scottish side to win a title and get some silverware is definitely a huge boost.

"In the Six Nations and Autumn Tests there's a lot of guys from Glasgow in the Scotland squad, so it will definitely give us a boost going into the next few months, hopefully.

"The Six Nations was a bit disappointing. It just shows the character of the boys to bounce back from that, from injuries, everything. Look at DTH - injured, he came back for two games and scored two tries.

"That just shows the character of the boys - to come back from a low to finish off on such a high like that is amazing."

That character was also shown by the way in which Glasgow regained control of the game after Munster had reduced their lead. "They got a try just before half-time, and we spoke about coming out and getting the first points," Russell added. "But unfortunately Munster did - a couple of our mistakes and a penalty let them get back into it.

"And then we got a try. That almost killed the game, and from there on in Munster never really got back into it. We kind of stayed on top from there and that was the game."