IT’S going to be a busy week for Greg Peterson, the Glasgow Warriors lock. Today he gets only his third start of the season for the club, when they take on the Ospreys, then he flies across the Atlantic to play a part in the USA’s opening match of the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship, then back to Scotland aiming to cement his place in the club side in the key games during the RBS Six Nations Championship period.

“It is frustrating but you have to believe in the coach’s plan and how he picks the team,” Peterson said. “Gregor [Townsend, the Glasgow head coach] is very good with that, I have 100 percent faith in what he is doing. When I do get the opportunity, I have to grasp it with two hands and that is what I aim to do today.

“The next few weeks with a lot of good players like Jonny Gray and Tim Swinson off at the Six Nations, gives players like myself a chance to get some real good game time. We will build off that, aim to play some good rugby and I’d hope we can get some wins as well.”

For Peterson the chance to play at all for Glasgow has been a major source of satisfaction after getting only one game off the bench last season at Leicester, and he firmly believes that he and the rest of the players who have to power Glasgow through the Six Nations period have what it takes to deliver those winning performances. The pressure is on them to make sure they do.

With Glasgow two matches behind the league programme, they are facing extra games while the current Test players are away, and though currently eighth in the Guinness PRO12, wins in those games would take them back into the play-off spots.