Franco Smith’s side kick off their Investec Champions Cup campaign at the CorpAcq Stadium on Saturday.
Published 14th Oct 2026, 11:32 BST
Glasgow Warriors and Sale Sharks are no strangers to each other with Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup opener set to be their third meeting in as many years.
Franco Smith’s side have been drawn against the Salford outfit in the last two editions of the tournament, coming out on top in both encounters. They were 38-19 victors at Scotstoun in 2024 before claiming a 26-21 win at the CorpAcq Stadium last year.
Warriors will now return to the Greater Manchester area looking to replicate that result and get their latest European campaign off to a flying start. They will come up against a Sharks team who have started their PREM Rugby season with two wins and a defeat.
Scotland winger’s incredible pace and acceleration a threat but Glasgow’s wide men have the edge
Last weekend saw Alex Sanderson’s team beat struggling Harlequins 28-24 at home after trailing 14-24 until the hour mark. It was a contest that displayed why this Saturday’s match with Glasgow has the potential to be a high octane battle that could very well play to the away side’s strengths.
Sale looked to get the ball wide quickly and early throughout the 80 minutes which is understandable with pace merchant Arron Reed on the wing. The Scotland international, who is one try away from a half century for his club, will almost certainly be one of if not the quickest player on the pitch this weekend with his incredible acceleration.
If he can get a run on the outside before being brought down then Sharks can stretch the opposition line in the subsequent plays and have both backs and forwards who are comfortable throwing audacious off-loads against a scrambling defence. That being said, their match last weekend also showed them to be a team who live and die by that sword.
Quins’ managed to run in four tries and had two more denied after TMO interventions. England internationals Marcus Smith and George Furbank caused havoc, with the fly-half pulling the strings and the full-back contributing with ball in hand.
Franco Smith and his coaching team will have watched this match confident that they have the attacking players to cause Sale similar problems. The likes of Jamie Dobie, Kyle Rowe and Josh McKay could find themselves with multiple opportunities and all are players with the quality to punish opponents.
Contrast that to Reed who, for all his speed, lacks the Test level finishing talent that the Warriors boast. If Glasgow can once again utilise the 10-12 combination of Dan Lancaster and Sione Tuipulotu to their playmaking best then this should be another win over the English club for them.
In terms of the forward battle you also have to give the edge to Warriors who, man for man, look to have that little bit more about them. That’s not to take anything away from world class players like Courtney Lawes and Luke Cowan-Dickie who are both British & Irish Lions, with over 150 England caps between them.
However, Franco Smith’s side showed against Connacht how effective their rolling maul can be and the strength in depth they have to come off the bench could also prove the deciding factor there. If we see Jamie Ritchie making his Warriors debut this weekend it could likely be from the replacements’ bench and the former Edinburgh man has shown in the past the he change the direction of a match when he does.
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