GLASGOW Warriors are on a five-game winning streak after beating Cardiff last week, but assistant coach Dan McFarland has warned they will need to step up a level if they are to make it six wins on the bounce against Munster.

The Irish province have already beaten the Warriors twice this season - in the Champions Cup in their first game after the sudden death of their coach Anthony Foley, and then in the league just a few weeks ago. With a three-point lead over Glasgow in Champions Cup pool one, Munster will take a huge step towards the quarter-finals if they win at Scotstoun tomorrow, and McFarland thinks the home forwards in particular will have to be on top of their game if they are going to stop that.

“We have to front up,” McFarland said. “We have to bring our A game. And we will have to be better than last week.

“The lads did well last week, but we’re now going up to another level playing Champions Cup rugby. Munster bring a very specific gameplan which they execute extremely well, right up there with the best, whether it is in their forward play, their defence, their kicking game.

“But also, they can be lethal in their attacks. They’re certainly focused around an attritional style of play and if we don't deal with that then it’s going to be a very difficult afternoon.”

Both teams were without key players in the league game at Scotstoun, and the European match in Limerick was played in unique circumstances. Munster not only played brilliantly then, they have won almost every game since - but McFarland is convinced his own squad are also very strong characters.

“There were exceptional circumstances,” he said of that game in Ireland back in October. “It was a very tragic week. Munster had to deal with a lot of emotional issues, psychological issues, and it was the same for us from a different perspective.

“They certainly demonstrated a massive resilience and showed the qualities the club is well known for by pulling together. The weeks since then have obviously been a huge credit to them as well.

“I admire them for that. I spent a long time in Ireland and I've always admired them. I know a lot of the people around the organisation very well. That sense of family and togetherness, that fighting spirit when times get hard, is something that has characterised them for a long time.

“But that characterises the Warriors as well. This is a place that relishes difficult times it’s not an organisation that shies away from that. They want that, they want something that tests them, whether it’s the weather or anything else.”

With the three best runners-up from the five pools going through to the last eight as well as the pool winners, whichever team loses tomorrow night still has a chance. Leicester, who play Racing 92 in Paris tomorrow evening, are also still in the running, and whatever happens this weekend, the match between the English team and the Warriors in Leicester a week tomorrow could come down to a straight knockout.

But, rather than waste time thinking about the ways his team could qualify, McFarland prefers a simpler attitude. “From a rational, logical point of view, one win could be enough, but it's not the way I approach it.

“We’ll be totally focused on winning that game [against Leicester], whether we've won or lost against Munster. But we will try to win both games.”