IT would be unfair to describe Fraser Brown as a Jekyll and Hyde character, but there is a definite contrast between his thoughtful and reasoned personality away from game day compared to his prickly and confrontational nature when in match mode.

Speaking immediately after his team’s 22-7 defeat at Scotstoun last month, Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter lavished praise on Glasgow Warriors for the way they had gone about their business in very difficult circumstances [specifically a pea soup fog].

“We looked like we couldn’t quite get in our stride, and Glasgow were really up for the fight, so it is something we need to talk about and look at before next time we come here,” he said, magnanimously. “Rugby is a great game because you tend to win the games you deserve to win, and that’s what it felt like today.”

However, as he looked ahead to tomorrow night’s rematch at Sandy Park, Brown took the view that some of the English club’s attempts to rationalise those harrowing 80-minutes should be interpreted as disrespectful to Warriors. It could be an effective motivational ploy ahead of a match in which Glasgow can expect a furious backlash from their opponents.

“I wasn't on the pitch, but I'm told that if you were out there the vision was quite good,” said the hooker, who scored a try against Ospreys last Saturday in his comeback match after three months out with a knee injury. “Picking bits and pieces of that and using that as an excuse for the performance is a bit disrespectful to how well our group of players played on that night.

“I thought it was a fantastic performance – the energy, the physicality and the defence were all outstanding.

“There have been snippets from Exeter about how they didn't get into their shape, but I don't think they were allowed to get into shape because of our intensity and how good we were from a defensive point of view.

“Exeter are probably one of the best teams in Europe – they are double English champions and European champions – and I think that was probably the best performance by a Glasgow team for a number of years,” he continued.

“But from our point of view, we can build on that. We talked last Saturday about it being three weeks since that first Exeter game and we wanted to try to reproduce that form, which I think we did against Ospreys, so now we need to roll that into this week.”

Warriors were hammered 42-0 the last time they visited Sandy Park just over a year ago, but Brown insisted that his team is motivated rather than intimidated by that painful experience.

“I think we’re a completely different team to what we were last year, for a whole number of reasons,” he explained. “Our squad has evolved with guys coming in and guys knowing each other better.

“Guys like Ross Thompson and Rory Darge have probably been two of the best players in Scottish rugby over the past six to 12 months, so it might be a new experience for them but every single time our young guys have been challenged in new situations they have risen to it and performed really well. I don't really expect anything other than that this weekend.

“The more time you spend together as a group, the more you grow in confidence. The more you get familiar with your systems, the more you get familiar with each other, the greater the bonds that grow between the guys on and off the pitch. 

“And I think you can see that with us. There are still moments in games when we are under pressure, but I think you can see now that there is an evolution where guys have the confidence to stick to the systems and trust each other to work their way out of it. 

“With Cole Forbes’ try at the weekend, we had seven or eight phases on the halfway line where it didn’t look like we were going very far, but the guys kept plugging away doing the right thing, and all of a sudden they got an opportunity and took it – and we ended up scoring to open up the game. So, I think that is an example of us having more confidence in what we’re trying to do. 

“I do think we take something from that game last year because we know that we went down there and didn’t perform,” he added. “It had nothing to do with the opposition, it was all down to ourselves. 

“It is a major thing for us to have in the back of our heads that whenever we go away from home – whether it is to Exeter, La Rochelle or anyone else – that can never happen again.

“It is going to be a hostile environment. It may be backs against the wall at times, but we have to thrive on that. We are looking forward to it.”