Fly-half David Skrela has been in fine form with the boot for Toulouse this season © Getty Images

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Matches: Glasgow 16 - 28 Toulouse

Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup

Teams: Glasgow | Toulouse

Grounds: Firhill Stadium

Glasgow Warriors will be hoping to blow Pool 6 wide open when they entertain Heineken Cup champions Toulouse at Firhill on Friday night.

Toulouse have made a decent start to the defence of their title, having followed up a fortuitous win over Wasps in round one with a rout of the Newport Gwent Dragons the following weekend. Guy Noves' men arrive in Scotland on the back of a Top 14 defeat by Clermont Auvergne but they, crucially, managed to pick up a losing bonus point which stretched their lead at the top of the table to two points.

Glasgow, meanwhile, are struggling domestically - they are third from bottom in the Magners League - and currently lie four points adrift of Toulouse in Pool 6 because while they opened with a win over the Dragons, the Warriors failed to pick up anything from their clash with London Wasps last time out.

Glasgow - Player to Watch: Glasgow rely heavily on the lethal finishing of DTH van der Merwe, as evidence by the fact that he has scored five of the 15 tries they have scored so far in this season's Magners League.

Glasgow - Team News: Glasgow's Magners League meeting with Treviso was called off last week, meaning the likes of fly-half Ruaridh Jackson, centre Graeme Morrison and lock Richie Gray will be making their first appearances for the club since returning from international duty with Scotland. Flanker Calum Forrester and centre Rob Dewey both miss out after picking up serious injuries in the defeat by the Cardiff Blues a fortnight ago.

Toulouse - Player to Watch: Maxime Medard has been in sensational try-scoring form for Toulouse this season, having notched ten times in 13 matches. Selected at fullback this weekend ahead of Clement Poitrenaud, his runs from deep will have to be closely monitored by Glasgow.

Toulouse - Team News: In an impressive show of strength in depth, Toulouse make nine changes in personnel to the side beaten by Clermont last weekend. Behind the scrum, France stars Vincent Clerc, Yannic Jauzion and Cedric Heymans all return. Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat, Yoann Maestri and Patricio Albacete are added to the front five, while Thierry Dusautoir returns to skipper the side from the back row, where he will be joined by the also recalled Shaun Sowerby.

Key Battle: Ruaridh Jackson appears to be improving with each passing game and the young Scotland fly-half will surely be relishing this opportunity to impress against the best side in Europe. However, in David Skrela he will be going head-to-head with one of the most experienced No.10s in the business. A fascinating duel awaits us.

Trivia: Glasgow recorded the most famous victory in their history when they defeated Toulouse 33-26 at the Stade Ernest Wallon in January 2009

Stats: Four-time champions Toulouse average 29 points a game in the Heineken Cup.

Quote Unquote:

"Toulouse are the All Blacks of the northern hemisphere. They are incredibly comfortable in defence and have real composure and consistency. They are great to play against because the let you play rugby, but they still make it extremely difficult to get over the try line." - Glasgow Warriors head coach Sean Lineen on this weekend's opposition

"It would be a big mistake for us to think that it will be easy against Glasgow. The Scottish teams are progressing all the time, just like their national team. We will need to be at our best to get past them." - Toulouse flanker Yannick Nyanga is refusing to underestimate the threat posed by the Warriors

Prediction: The anticipated frosty weather could play into Glasgow's hands but Toulouse have seen it all before and should have far too much firepower for their hosts. Away win.