After 13 straight defeats in the Heineken Cup — the second-longest losing streak in the tournament's history — defeats in their last five games in all competitions, and an embarrassing display of against Leinster in Dublin last week, Sunday's match is one they must win.
Bourgoin have admitted that they see the game more as a training run before they get back to serious action in the French league and, like Glasgow, they have elected to rest players. Also, like the Warriors, they have injury worries and a history of failure on the road, losing 53-7 at Leinster this season, a result that eclipses even Glasgow's 46-22 failure last week.
Coincidentally, Bourgoin are the last team Glasgow beat in the Heineken Cup, a controversial 13-12 victory in December 2002, and they badly need a repeat of that gritty, battling performance in adversity. Even the younger members of the team are having to wake up to the fact that in professional sport, careers are on the line once a side starts sliding.
For Steve Swindall the key is getting those first couple of wins to kickstart the side. "It is all about getting wins under the belt. Winning is a habit and it is one that we do not have at the moment," he said in The Times. "We have to build up a rhythm, we have to get a win. It is a young team and it is not that we are not performing, but we have been making silly mistakes.
"I was out in France for the first match against Bourgoin, so I have a good idea what to expect — they are a big, tough outfit, it will be a good test for us. We don't want to go through the Heineken Cup without a win, as we did last season. We have to generate a bit of respect."
Steve also said in the Daily Record: "Our captain, Jonny Petrie, gave us a bollocking at half-time against Leinster in Dublin last weekend and after the break we put in a much better display.
"We must continue where we left off and make sure we cut out the silly mistakes that have plagued our season.
"We only have pride to play for in the Heineken now but we will perform from the heart and for the jersey.
"The supporters haven't had much to shout about, so we want to change that and get them on our side again ahead of next week's Celtic League clash with Ospreys at Old Anniesland.
"We must establish some kind of momentum because we also have the showdown with the Borders coming up soon.
"That one could be the most important game of the season in terms of determining our European fate next term."