THERE was a time when Glasgow Warriors were lucky to get crowds of 2,000 for their home games. This weekend, three times that number will make the journey south to see the team take on Saracens in their first-ever Champions Cup quarter-final.

The Warriors contingent at Leicester for the last game of the pool stages was noisy enough, and there were only about 1000 of them. Now, head coach Gregor Townsend hopes the army of fans can make his team feel at home in Allianz Park in north London - and cheer them on to victory against the reigning European and English champions.

“It’s going to be almost a home game with the support we’ll have there - and the Warriors fans make a fair bit of noise,” Townsend said yesterday. “It’s amazing.

“We were blown away in the first PRO12 final [in 2014] when we had three or four thousand there. It was great to see people giving up their weekends to support us. We were getting crowds lower than that two years before at home games. Now it’s 5500 officially and I’m sure a few others will get along there.

“It gives us a huge boost. We had about 1000 at Leicester and that gave the players a boost when they arrived. It gave us more energy.”

Saracens are in a lot better form than Leicester - and unlike the Warriors in the PRO12 are again within touching distance of the top of their league. So although Townsend is sure his his team have the ability to win tomorrow, he is just as convinced they will need to be at the absolute top of their game to do so.

“If you look at the stats, they’ve been the best in Europe over the past couple of seasons,” he said of Saracens. “Before them it was Toulon, but Saracens have taken that mantle. They’ve been unbeaten for almost two years and that shows how hard they are to beat - not just the stats but the style of rugby they play.

“The way they play has been very successful. There are things they do very well, better than other teams - kicking, defence, set piece. Add in their individual players, guys who will be starting Tests for the Lions.

“It’s a quality side, and we’re excited about the challenge. We believe we have the quality and the players to win this game. We need to make sure our players go there with the belief to win.

“We have to be able to impose our game,” he continued. “There are areas because of how they defend or play the game where there could be opportunities. We have to seize opportunities quickly.

“We have to be at the highest level of focus and communication ever. Underlying that has to be physicality. This is a team that prides itself on big hits and getting off the line.

“There are big men in their team, but we have big men as well. We believe we can win and we have to deliver our best performance to win.”

Scrum-half Henry Pyrgos and lock Jonny Gray are among the internationals who return for the Warriors after being rested last week. Saracens have Scotland internationals Sean Maitland and Jim Hamilton in their starting line-up, with another two in Duncan Taylor and Kelly Brown on the bench.

Glasgow Warriors (versus Saracens at Allianz Park, tomorrow, 1pm): S Hogg; T Seymour, P Horne, A Dunbar, L Jones; F Russell, H Pyrgos; G Reid, F Brown, Z Fagerson, B Alainu’uese, J Gray, R Harley, R Wilson, A Ashe. Substitutes: C Flynn, A Allan, S Puafisi, G Peterson, C Fusaro, A Price, N Grigg, R Hughes.