Townsend delighted with Glasgow Warriors cohesion

The 41-year-old took over at Scotstoun in 2012 and last season led his side all the way to a final berth against Leinster.

This season has seen the Warriors continue their fine form and 13 wins from their 17 matches sees them sitting atop the standings with a four-point advantage on second-placed Ulster.

There is still a long way to go however and a trip to the RDS next time out will see Townsend try to clinch the double over a Leinster side that snatched the crown away from his team last season.

But the head coach believes a cohesive mindset now permeates his group and he is confident it will see them make a real impact this year.

"I was really fortunate with the group I inherited because they already had a great working culture and they were very together and wanted to do the best for the team," he told Backpage Press.

"They were the best defensive team the year before I came in so it was an open door.

"The period we had at the beginning I felt the results would come because we working so hard and they did and now we have a real depth to our squad and competition for places is excellent and the quality for training is much better now.

"You have people of equal footing playing against each other and there's a real understanding of wanting the team to win even if players aren't selected.

"At a lot of clubs you don't get 90 or 100 per cent of players behind a team and wanting them to succeed but we are very lucky with the players we have."

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