Glasgow must find another level to succeed in Europe, says Ryan Wilson

Ryan Wilson admits Glasgow have paid the price in the past for failing to take European competition as seriously as their opponents.

Warriors travel to Italy to face Zebre in the Guinness PRO12 on Saturday and coach Gregor Townsend is hoping to use the match as a springboard ahead of this month's European Rugby Champions Cup double header against Leicester and Munster.

Back-rower Wilson says his side will have to move up a level from their previous displays on the continent if they are to escape Pool 1, which also contains French giants Racing 92.

Glasgow claimed the PRO12 title in 2015 but have never made it past the group stages in Europe and Wilson confessed the Warriors focus has not always matched the intensity of the competition.

Asked why they haven't been able to replicate their domestic form in the Champions Cup, the Scotland flanker said: "For a lot of these teams, Europe is the biggest thing.

"We start so well in the PRO12 and come into this and it's a step up, and maybe we've not been prepared as we would have liked to have been coming into Europe.

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"It's just one of these things, the PRO12 season is long so you can have slip-ups here and there and still manage to get some points back, whereas in the European Cup you've got to win your games and get as many points out of it as you can.

"We want to qualify from the group and that has been a massive goal for us over the past four or five years.

"We haven't achieved that but this year is the year I feel we can definitely go on and do that."

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