AFTER being beaten by Saracens last week in their Champions Cup quarter-final, Glasgow Warriors face another game tonight that amounts to a knockout match: lose to Munster and they will almost certainly wave goodbye to their hopes of getting into the PRO12 play-offs.

The Warriors could in fact win their four remaining games but still fail to get into the top four, so there is no margin of error left. They need to beat Munster, ideally with a bonus point, win the three games that follow against Zebre, Leinster and Edinburgh - and even then hope that other results go their way if they are to climb two places from their present position of sixth.

It is a tall order, but Gregor Townsend believes his team can play a lot better than they did last week in north London. The Warriors have lost three times to Munster already this season - home and away in Europe as well as at home in the league - but the defeat at Scotstoun was by a single point, and the head coach is convinced his team could have won that one.

“I felt we played really well in the last game against them, and we created chances to score, but we just didn’t take them,” Townsend said yesterday. “So a similar level of intensity and accuracy will put us in a very good position – but that’s easier said than done.

“They’re an excellent team, they’ve got a very good set-piece, and they’ve got a defence that’s very effective. So we’re going to have to make sure we are able to impose our game on them.

“We didn’t do that last week, and as much as that defeat is really frustrating and disappointing, a lot of that was down to me and the preparation. In my role as head coach we didn’t get it right, which means we didn’t show a true reflection of ourselves – and that’s what we’ve got to do this weekend.

“We have four games left in the regular season, and as I said before the last two games, we’ll have to win them to be in a chance of making the play-offs. We’ve won our last two and we want to continue that tomorrow.”

Jonny Gray has recovered from the head knock that forced him off in the first half against Saracens, so starts in the second row again alongside Brian Alainu’uese. In fact, the only change in the pack is at tighthead prop, where Sila Puafisi comes in for Zander Fagerson, who has a foot injury.

There are two changes in the backs. Ali Price takes over at scrum-half from Henry Pyrgos, and Nick Grigg is at centre instead of Pete Horne. On the bench, Scott Cummings is the replacement lock, taking over from US international Greg Peterson.

Meanwhile, Singapore has been confirmed as the venue for Townsend’s first match when he takes over as Scotland coach in the summer. The national team will play Italy there on Saturday 10 June before playing Australia in Sydney on the 17th then Fiji in Suva on the 24th.

Glasgow Warriors (v Munster at Irish Independent Park, Cork, tonight, 7.35pm, live on BBC Alba): S Hogg; T Seymour, N Grigg, A Dunbar, L Jones; F Russell, A Price; G Reid, F Brown, S Puafisi, B Alainu’uese, J Gray, R Harley, R Wilson, A Ashe. Substitutes: P MacArthur, A Allan, D Rae, S Cummings, C Fusaro, H Pyrgos, P Horne, R Hughes.