GLASGOW Warriors forward Ryan Wilson has insisted that he and his team-mates are not intimidated by the statistic that shows no away team has won a PRO12 semi-final.

The defending champions go back to Connacht on Saturday after losing the last match of the regular season there, but Wilson is confident that they can play far better than they did in that 14-7 defeat. And he is sure that his team have greater strength in depth than the Irish province - not only because they have more players to choose from, but also because they can play in a number of different styles.

“We were the first Scottish side to win a title, so why can’t we be the first side to win an away semi?,” Wilson said. “I believe that we can do that with the team we’ve got, with everything we’ve got here. We’re happy to go over there and really push them.

“It’s a huge game. It’s one of the biggest games the club has ever been involved in.”

Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend will have to make two changes for the game, because centre Alex Dunbar is injured and prop Sila Puafisi is suspended after getting sent off in the last match. But Wilson is sure that whoever is chosen for this game will be able to rise to the occasion and play far better than his team did last time out.

“I think it’s 56 players we’ve used this year, which is an incredible amount,” Wilson said. “It’s also competition for places - everyone’s pushing each other here.

“We can slot in where we think we may need someone bigger, or different styles of attack. I’m not sure what Connacht will be thinking, but we’ll do everything we can.

“We can play a number of different ways. I think last Saturday we didn’t get to fire many shots at all.

“Their defence was outstanding: they kept coming up on us, putting pressure on us. I think that’s one thing that maybe took us back a bit. We were shocked by their defence - it was on top of us.

“That’s something we can look to manipulate. If you’ve got a team that are flying at you like that, there’s definitely places you can attack. We’re looking to go out and play the game that you’ve seen us play before, and play some good attacking rugby.”

Meanwhile, Richie Vernon has signed a new one-year contract with the Warriors. The centre, who started in last year’s PRO12 final, is getting back to full fitness after a lengthy spell on the sidelines because of injury.

“We’ve had a bit of success and we’re a team moving in the right direction and trying to get better, so it’ll be great to be a part of that for another year,” the 28-year-old said yesterday. “It’s been a frustrating season for me with injury, but now my shoulder is feeling better I’ll be happy to get back and progress next season. One of my goals is to get back involved in the Scotland set-up, and I believe I have the best chance of doing that at Glasgow.”