COULD a win at the Tigers help earn Jonny Gray a spot with the Lions? Matt Taylor, his defence coach at Glasgow Warriors, thinks so. He believes Gray can lead his side to a European breakthrough this weekend, drive Scotland to Six Nations success and then reap the rewards in New Zealand in the summer.
"I hope he is in the frame for the [British & Irish] Lions," Taylor said of his young leader. "I hope he has a good Six Nations too. He is good enough, but I get to work with him every day and I am not picking the team.
"Those coaches who pick those spots will know how good he is, they will know his stats, but there are a lot of good second rows. It depends on what they want, but I will give him a recommendation."
Read more: Andy Murray's warrior spirit can show Glasgow route to last eight
First things first. To guarantee that Glasgow reach the quarter finals of the European Champions Cup for the first time, they have to pick up at least two points away at Leicester Tigers and will have the luxury of knowing exactly what they need before kick-off.
The English side have a dreadful away record, but they have lost only once at home this season and Taylor understands they are a different challenge at Welford Road compared with the side put to the sword at Scotstoun earlier this season. He is also fully aware of the danger of letting the players think they can get away with anything less than victory.
"All we have been talking about is getting a result," he said. "It will be tough but it is within our own hands to qualify. We were disappointed at the weekend [when they lost to Munster] but we cannot dwell on that. The boys have put in a lot at training.
"Leicester are highly motivated at home and that will give them an extra edge. I have never been to Welford Road, but they have won the Cup twice and have been a very successful club for a long time."
Gray is an important factor. He may be in his second season as a Glasgow captain, but he is still only 22 and still learning as he goes along.
Read more: Andy Murray's warrior spirit can show Glasgow route to last eight
His inexperience, Taylor admits, was in evidence against Munster, when the team engineered a chance to rescue the result in the final minute but instead of going for the three points on offer with a drop goal, elected to run the ball instead.
The immediate decision was Finn Russell's at fly half, but the other leaders on the pitch needed to make sure he was given better advice more robustly.
"We are always trying to develop that in the leadership group" said Taylor. "That was part of things. We needed to be more dominant in our calling; our key members needed to take a bit more control. We certainly try to work hard on our leadership, it is a big part of doing well in any sporting team.
"He [Gray] is definitely maturing and getting more confidence in that role. There is a lot of work behind the scenes. At the weekend, that was part of things, we needed to be more dominant in our calling; our key members needed to take a bit more control.
"We try to work hard on our leadership, it is a big part of doing well in any sporting team."
Effort, however, is what stands Gray in such good stead. Not just on the field where his immense work rate – as demonstrated by his 72 tackles that leads the statistics across the Champions Cup, with team-mate Ryan Wilson in second spot but trailing by 10 – but off the field too.
He may be one of the highest profile players in the side, but he is always developing his game and looking for ways to improve.
Read more: Andy Murray's warrior spirit can show Glasgow route to last eight
"He is a perfectionist," was Taylor's take on his young star. "He will be one of the first ones put there, one of the last back in. If he gets something wrong, he wants to do it again.
"He is one of the players who, if something happens on the field or something goes wrong – he misses a tackle or misses a read – then the next day he is in saying 'I want to talk to you about this, I want to get this right'.
"There are a lot of people who won't do that, you have to say 'come here, I want to go through that' but he will be the first one in.
"I find him excellent to work with, one of those players you really enjoy working with. He always wants to get better, he does not rest on his laurels."
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