Townsend Ready For Bath Clash

Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend admits he cannot wait to get his teeth back into continental action. The Scotstoun side begin their European Rugby Champions Cup campaign at home to Bath on Saturday. The Scots have been drawn alongside the English big guns as well as French duo Montpellier and Toulouse in Pool 4 as they kick-off the replacement tournament for the old Heineken Cup. That was a competition which offered little joy for Townsend's men, even when they were flying high in the PRO12. The Warriors have only ever escaped the group stage once - when they qualified for a quarter-final play-off in 1998 - and finished bottom of their section last season after winning just two matches. But Townsend is optimistic the new format will offer the club better prospects. He said: "There has been a heightened level of excitement and anticipation around the club this week, as we get closer to the start of our new European Rugby Champions Cup campaign. "It's great that we're able to start this season's European campaign with a home game and we're expecting a bumper crowd at Scotstoun. "Bath are one of the form teams in England and seem to be full of confidence. "We are in a quality group with three of the leading sides in Europe. I imagine that every team in our group has the aim of progressing to the knockout stages and it should make for some fascinating contests. We can't wait for it to all get going on Saturday." Townsend has made five changes to his starting line-up following the 29-9 loss to Ulster last weekend. Stuart Hogg comes in at full-back, Sean Maitland moves to the right wing and Tommy Seymour continues on the opposite side. Mark Bennett and Peter Horne remain at centre, while Duncan Weir comes in for Finn Russell at fly-half and Henry Pyrgos continues at scrum-half to complete an all-Scottish back-line. In the pack Gordon Reid and Euan Murray are retained at loose-head and tight-head respectively, while Pat MacArthur is in for Fraser Brown at hooker. Last year's PRO12 Young Player of the Season, Jonny Gray returns to the starting line-up, with Tim Swinson making way, and his partner in the engine room is Fijian Leone Nakarawa. The only change to the back-row which started last weekend's defeat to Ulster sees Adam Ashe come in for Josh Strauss at number eight and where he will combine with Rob Harley and Chris Fusaro. The club's top try scorer DTH van der Merwe has been named among the replacements, along with Fijian scrum-half Niko Matawalu and Scotland international Finn Russell.