Glasgow Warriors are building momentum just at the right time ahead of their clash with Zebre on Friday, according to Fraser Brown.

Gregor Townsend’s men are looking to rediscover the form which saw them crowned Guinness PRO12 champions last season and the omens bode well this week.

Zebre have failed to beat Glasgow in six attempts, with the Warriors winning with a try bonus point on four occasions.

Indeed the Warriors now have six wins on the bounce and with four games left to play, Brown is confident a top two finish – and a home semi-final – is achievable.

“It’s been well written about all season that we’ve not been at the heights we hit last year, but I think this week couldn’t have happened at a better time with [practically] the whole squad coming back in,” said hooker Brown.

“It has allowed guys to spend a bit more time in each other’s company and get a bit more familiar with one another. Then having this run of games, you can see the confidence coming back into the squad. It looks like we are hitting form at just the right time.

“Obviously it is nice to be back in that top four. It was only about five or six weeks ago that people were writing us off, but we’ve always known that we had these two games in hand and our destiny has always been in our own control.

"The top two in the league is still very much achievable and it’s just down to us picking up as many wins as we can.”

Nine players who weren’t involved in the win over Benetton Treviso last weekend have been included in the Warriors squad.

Full-back Glenn Bryce replaces Stuart Hogg, with the Scotland international rested this week, while Tommy Seymour replaces Sean Lamont and Alex Dunbar comes in for Mark Bennett at outside centre.

The Warriors will start with a new half-back pairing with Duncan Weir starting at stand-off and Ali Price at scrum-half.

Leone Nakarawa replaces Tim Swinson in the second-row while Rob Harley starts on the blind-side with Ryan Wilson named at No.8

Gonzalo Garcia returns to the Zebre starting line-up for the first time since playing all five of Italy’s Six Nations matches, while Dion Berryman has been declared fit and will start the game as a winger.

But Zebre will be without Kelly Haimona, Jean Cook and Johan Meyer who have all failed to recover from injuries
in time.

And though Glasgow dispatched Italian opposition in Benetton Treviso 38-16 last time out, Brown insists they cannot rest on their laurels against Zebre.

“Some people said last week that we went looking for the bonus point from the beginning but that isn’t the case,” added Brown. “We just wanted to pressurise Treviso through our set-piece and particularly our line-out.

“We expected both games out here to be difficult and we know we are going to have to stay grounded and concentrate on getting the win before we think about anything else.”

At Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, 7.30pm local time (6.30pm UK & Ireland) Live on RAI Sport

Referee: Ian Davies (WRU, 45th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Matteo Liperini, Filippo Bertelli (both FIR)
Citing Commissioner: Marco Cordelli (FIR)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (FIR)