The Herald reports

Glasgow Warriors forwards coach Shade Munro admits that he struggles to believe how far his side has come over the past decade.

Munro celebrated his 10th anniversary on the Warriors' coaching staff last year, and Friday's RaboDirect PRO12 semi-final clash with Munster at Scotstoun put him in reflective mood as he remembered the bad old days when Glasgow were marooned among the league's also-rans.

"It is a huge occasion when you think where we used to be," said Munro. "We were looking through the tables earlier on and Glasgow, Borders and Edinburgh were the bottom three teams in the league 10 seasons ago.

"So to get our fourth semi-final in five years is a massive achievement from where we used to be back then. The first home play-off is huge and it gives our fans a chance to see a semi for a change. It will be massive because it is here at Scotstoun."

Munro, now 47, first played for the old Glasgow District more than 25 years ago and was a stalwart of the side until he retired in 1997. And while he reckons that the amateur and professional games are "totally different", he is happy that the Warriors' current success is helping to bridge old divides.

"It has taken a while," he said. "But we farm a lot of our players out to the clubs and we review the club games every Monday morning at our meeting before we do the review of our own game, so I think that's all part of bringing the whole thing much closer together.

"Certainly the feedback from the people you see in the ground is that they are all club people. A lot of people are coming back with the success of Glasgow.

"There's a real buzz about the place from that point of view. People are queuing for hours outside for tickets, which is brilliant. I've never seen that before."

Glasgow go into the Munster game in the unaccustomed position of favourites, but Munro warned: "They are pretty experienced in these types of games. They are twice Heineken Cup champions, they've won the Pro12 three times, and I don't know how many finals and semi-finals they have been in.

"So they are vastly more experienced as a club than we are and there is a huge amount of respect for what they have achieved. Obviously we are trying to emulate the likes of Leinster and Munster and Ulster - that's what we want to be."

Munro reported that there were no injury concerns in the squad after the 54-0 victory over Zebre last weekend that guaranteed the Warriors their home semi-final.

This article was originally posted on 14-May-2014, 07:41 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 14-May-2014, 07:42.