GREGOR Townsend expects Glasgow will have to fight all the way to the last kick of the ball if they are to beat Munster in today’s crunch Champions Cup pool game. The Warriors coach has seen his team lose twice to the Irishmen already this season, and knows they will have to put in their best performance of the campaign so far to avoid a third loss and boost their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time.

Townsend has named a starting line-up consisting of 15 Scotland internationals, although there is no place for scrum-half Henry Pyrgos, who injured a knee against Treviso two weeks ago. Italian cap Simone Favaro has also been ruled out by injury, but the Warriors team is still close to full strength for a game that could see them take a massive step towards the quarter-finals.

“We know Munster well,” Townsend said. “We know that they’re a very good side in great form, so we’ll require the aggression, the effort, the accuracy of the best we’ve ever put together this season.

“Defensively they’ve been outstanding, with the best defensive record in our league and I think Europe. They’re one of the quality teams in Europe.”

Munster are top of pool one, three points clear of Glasgow with two games to play, and if they win they will go through to the knockout stages as pool winners. On the other hand, the Warriors could win this evening but end up third in the pool if they then lose at Leicester next Saturday. That would knock them out of the competition, with only the three best runners-up from the five groups joining the pool winners in the last eight.

Munster beat Glasgow well in Limerick earlier in the tournament in the first game they played following the death of their coach Anthony Foley, but the biggest game in recent years between the two was the 2015 PRO12 final in Belfast, which Glasgow won 31-13. Townsend expects today’s match to be far tighter than either of those games.

“You’ve got to play the full 80 minutes close to your best. We’ve been involved in real battles with them, games that have gone to the last play. The semi-final [in 2014] was the standout, but sometimes we’ve had the upper hand and sometimes they have, like the game earlier this year.

“Take out the Thomond Park game this year and the PRO12 final, and all the other games have been really close. Here, we were leading with three or four minutes to go and they got a drop goal to win. During the World Cup we got a drop goal with two minutes left and they won with the last kick of the game.

“We enjoy the battles against them, but we know they are an opposition who will keep fighting for 80 minutes. But we do that as well.”

Glasgow Warriors (against Munster at Scotstoun today, 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports): S Hogg; T Seymour, M Bennett, A Dunbar, L Jones; F Russell, A Price; G Reid, F Brown, Z Fagerson, T Swinson, J Gray, R Harley, R Wilson, J Strauss. Substitutes: P MAcArthur, A Allan, D Rae, M Fagerson, C Fusaro, G Hart, N Grigg, P Murchie.