GREGOR TOWNSEND today said Glasgow's 18-3 victory over Cardiff was the ideal preparation for Warriors' Heineken Cup campaign.

Toony's troops will head to Northampton on Sunday riding the crest of a four-game unbeaten run in the RaboDirect PRO12 which has now taken them into third position.

With the Glasgow pack destroying the Blues front eight, and Peter Horne kicking all of Warriors points to suggest he could be the cure to previous profligacy in front of the posts, there were plenty of positives to take from Glasgow's second success on the bounce in the Welsh capital.

Townsend said: "The victory over Cardiff was really pleasing given we have extended our winning run and built momentum to take us into the Heineken Cup campaign on a real high.

"There were so many positives from Cardiff, but now we know that, if anything, we are going to have to lift things again at Franklin's Gardens on Sunday.

"But I thought we produced a fairly complete team performance and one in which we are now starting to show that the things the coaching staff have been trying to get across are starting to stick.

"Peter Horne's kicking was tremendous and, in turn, that allowed Ruaridh Jackson to get on with managing the game and producing the type of play we know he is cap-able of. So that did give us another dimension that perhaps has not been there.

"Up front we were absolutely outstanding and completely dominated the Blues pack. I would single out Mike Cusack in our front row for special praise, but, as I said, it was a real team effort and we reaped rich rewards from it.

"We knew after losing our first two games that the response to that was to win all four of the remaining PRO12 fixtures before the Heineken Cup break and we have done that.

"We are now sitting third, very handily placed, and we have built very important momentum."

The only slight negative was an elbow injury to prop Ryan Grant, the full extent of which will be revealed this week.

But Townsend has no doubt that the battle with the English Premiership leaders, who lost their own unbeaten record in the English top flight at the weekend, will be a brutal test of just where Glasgow are.

He said: "We are under no illusions as to how tough Northampton are going to be on Sunday, but we are looking forward to that challenge. We are determined to take the game to Northampton."

Meanwhile, New Zealand continued their domination of the international rugby stage, beating South Africa 32-16 to claim a perfect Rugby Championship triumph. Unlike previous Webb Ellis trophy winners, the All Blacks avoided a World Cup hangover to sweep through all six matches in the inaugural tournament unbeaten.