In a week when team selection has been a talking point, Glasgow Warriors have picked as strong a side as possible to take on Leicester Tigers in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup on Saturday night. In doing so, Franco Smith has respected the competition and also made it clear he is in it to win it. Saracens, three-time winners of European club rugby’s most glittering prize, now seem more preoccupied with maintaining their Premiership standing. But by resting key players such as Maro Itoje and Ben Earl for their weekend trip to Toulon they have devalued a competition which should be the pinnacle of the club game. Smith chose not to criticise Saracens, acknowledging how difficult it was to fight on two fronts, but the Glasgow head coach has also made clear throughout the season that he wants his team to make an impact in the Champions Cup. The URC champions have never been beyond the quarter-finals and never won a knockout match and will look to change the latter at least at Scotstoun on Saturday. “This is an important competition,” said Smith. “I don't talk for anybody else, but obviously everybody in the club is looking forward to being involved in this game, so it goes without saying that they're the best players.” Smith quickly caveated the latter statement by pointing out that there he had “45 very good players” but his selection bears all the hallmarks of his strongest team. Johnny Matthews and Zander Fagerson return to the front row in place of Grant Stewart and Sam Talakai and Matt Fagerson comes in at six for Euan Ferrie. Rory Darge is given another week on the bench after a gruelling Six Nations while the likes of Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Josh McKay, Scott Cummings, Jack Dempsey and Max Williamson remain sidelined by injury. Rory Sutherland has joined the wounded list with a shoulder problem but is expected to return soon. Unlike Saracens, Smith is not prioritising the league over Europe but he wasn’t about to criticise the English club, particularly after they went through the trauma of relegation in 2020. “To burn your candle at both ends is really, really tough,” he said. “It's hard to be competitive in both these competitions and manage everybody's expectation to win. “It's understandable that there's more at stake for them. Having been a team that spent a year relegated means that they know what it is to be down there. So I suppose I can't speak on their behalf, but I can understand what their train of thought is.” Leicester Tigers will be missing some international big guns of their own this weekend. Argentine hooker Julian Montoya, Welsh flanker Tommy Reffell, and English lock Chessum are all absent but head coach Michael Cheika has still been able to select a team peppered with talent. Double World Cup-winning fly-half Handré Pollard will pull the strings at 10 for a backline boasting Freddie Steward, Solomone Kata and Ollie Hassell-Collins. Nicky Smith and Dan Cole are the props, and Scotland cap Cam Henderson is in the second row with his international team-mate Will Hurd on the bench. “This is still a very, very strong team,” insisted Smith. “They still have Ben Youngs with more than 100 Test caps on the bench. I see Will Hurd is in there. We know that they've got a good squad. They're not sitting third in the Premiership for nothing and they're well coached. We still see this as their best available team coming here.” The game has added spice because Smith was linked with Leicester after it emerged Cheika would be stepping down at the end of the season. The Glasgow coach, very much a man in demand, didn’t entirely shut down the possibility on Friday but made it clear his priorities lie with Glasgow, for now at least. “I am fully focused on what's going to happen tomorrow night,” he said. “It's definitely not something I want to comment on at this stage. That kind of talk for now is dead and buried.” English clubs were Glasgow’s undoing in the Champions Cup last season when defeats in the pool stage by Northampton and Exeter were followed by a narrow loss to Harlequins in the round of 16. Danny Wilson’s Quins also got the better of his former club in Pool 4 this season but Glasgow did manage a win over Sale Sharks. Smith admitted that clubs from the Gallagher Premiership posed a different sort of challenge, more set-piece orientated, and suggested that the threat of relegation, which is being reintroduced this season, influenced their style. “They obviously play a different brand in the sense that there's a promotion and relegation at the bottom end of their competition, so there's a lot at stake,” said the Glasgow coach. “And the way they play is different from the rest of the world. There's some really good individuals and really good players in the Premiership with real quality. And also because the different owners of the clubs have different expectations. So it's a completely different model to the URC, for example, which doesn't have promotion and relegation and has a different approach. “It's going to be important for us to adapt quickly again.” In Leicester’s last Champions Cup pool match they suffered an 80-12 humbling in Toulouse against the holders and record five-time winners. Cheika announced soon after that he would be leaving at the end of the season. The Australian is a hugely experienced coach, not averse to the odd mind game and he has made Glasgow favourites to progress to the quarter-finals where a tie against either Leinster or Harlequins awaits. “We’re clearly underdogs,” said Cheika. “So we’ve got to go there with a clear plan and be relentless.” A grind-fest would suit the Tigers but Glasgow have the talent to open up the visitors and create their own history. Glasgow: 15. Kyle Rowe; 14. Jamie Dobie, 13. Stafford McDowall, 12. Tom Jordan, 11. Kyle Steyn (c); 10. Adam Hastings, 9. George Horne; 1. Nathan McBeth, 2. Johnny Matthews, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Gregor Brown, 5. JP du Preez, 6. Matt Fagerson, 7. Sione Vailanu, 8. Henco Venter. Replacements: 16. Grant Stewart, 17. Jamie Bhatti, 18. Sam Talakai, 19. Alex Samuel, 20. Euan Ferrie, 21. Rory Darge, 22. Ben Afshar, 23. Sebastian Cancelliere. Leicester Tigers: 15. Freddie Steward; 14. Adam Radwan, 13. Dan Kelly, 12. Solomone Kata, 11. Ollie Hassell-Collins; 10. Handre Pollard, 9. Jack van Poortvliet; 1. Nicky Smith, 2. Finn Theobald-Thomas, 3. Dan Cole, 4. Cameron Henderson, 5. Harry Wells, 6. Hanro Liebenberg (c), 7. Emeka Ilione, 8. Olly Cracknell. Replacements: 16. Charlie Clare, 17. Archie van der Flier, 18. Will Hurd, 19. Tom Manz, 20. Finn Carnduff, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. Jamie Shillcock, 23. Joe Woodward. Referee: Craig Evans (Wal).