The Herald interviews Peter Murchie who is part of Hawks Under 18s coaching team

But there is an air of caution about the full-back as he stops to speak at the end of the Warriors' training session at Scotstoun yesterday morning. It might owe something to his naturally laid-back, even lugubrious manner, but it is also a kind of tacit acknowledgement that there is another man in his life at the moment - a man whose form and fitness will have as much bearing on Murchie's prospects as anything he does himself.

At 27, Murchie has been a late developer in rugby. The same could never be said for Stuart Hogg, who last year became the first teenager to start a Test match for Scotland since Jim Renwick 40 years earlier. But it is Murchie's misfortune that he just happened to enter the prime of his rugby life at the very moment Hogg began to display the wizardry that, ultimately, earned him a place on the Lions tour to Australia a few months ago.

Gregor Townsend has worked wonders at Glasgow but fitting two players in to one shirt is a trick even he would struggle to pull off.

Townsend can bask in the luxury of knowing he has a stronger - and, more significantly, deeper - squad than any Scottish professional coach of the past 18 years but dealing with the expectations, ambitions and assorted grievances of those players over the next few months will test his man-management skills to the limit.

"He speaks to you," says Murchie of Townsend's method. "He keeps you informed and lets you know what he wants you to improve on. He goes through your games, and you can't ask for any more than that. Sometimes it is difficult, and you have difficult conversations when people are unhappy, but he's good at keeping the squad together.

The quality of the current Glasgow squad was obvious at Sandy Park on Saturday, for there was an unusually seamless quality to the process as a stream of Warriors replacements were thrown on during the second half of the match against Exeter. But the competition at full-back between himself and Hogg is unquestionably the most intense mano-a-mano in the squad.

To be fair to Murchie, it was a competition he was winning in the early stages of last season. On account of injury, Hogg made a late start to the campaign but his form when he came back was not enough to oust Murchie from the position. Murchie will also start on pole this season, almost certain to be in the starting lineup against Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun on Friday, if only because Hogg - like his fellow Lions Ryan Grant and Sean Maitland - resumed training later than the rest of the Glasgow squad.

"You always want to play," says Murchie. "I was fortunate that I was involved in pretty much every game right up to the last month or two of last season, when I found games a bit hard to come by. At times it gets frustrating but you have to keep the mind-set that your chance will come.

"Selection is on merit. I would expect that if Hoggy wasn't playing well and I was then I would play, and I would expect the same to happen if it was the other way round. Gregor has said to everybody that we start off on a level playing field. It is about who deserves it because they are playing best and who can do the job on the night.

"It's nice that I'm getting a chance to stake my claim. Let's not be stupid, he [Hogg] is going to get a shot at some point, so it's up to me to put down a marker and help us get off to a good start.

"We lost our first two games last year so we got off to a pretty slow start but we're carrying a bit more momentum this year with our good win in Exeter. So let's keep the ball rolling."

Of course, Murchie's status at the club is higher now as well after his impressive form, and two Test appearances, on Scotland's summer tour to South Africa. He followed that venture with a short holiday but he admits he found it difficult to relax when he knew that Glasgow's non- international players - yes, there are still one or two - were already back at the coalface, slogging through pre-season training.

"You take one week off then you start getting itchy feet," he explains. "In the past I was used to doing the full pre-season, so you are kind of aware that there are guys who are getting beasted back at Glasgow and making gains. You don't want to let it all go.

"Last year was a bit of a step into the unknown for us all. We had a new coach, with Gregor coming in, and nobody was quite sure what was going to happen. So, to end up having what was probably our best season was great.

"I think the sights are now set a little bit higher this season and we are excited about what we think we can achieve."

This article was posted on 4-Sep-2013, 06:53 by Hugh Barrow.