Revved up and ready

"I think maybe the whole squad's taken a step in terms of experience and the depth we have, and that's exciting," Harley replied. "Where last year we had a lot of new faces – some playing their first season, while it was only my second season in professional rugby – those guys have been terrific performers. We have players like Chris Fusaro, who has been a stand-out, and others who have just come back from winning their first caps, like Ryan Grant and Tom Ryder, who'll take the same confidence I've taken from that, so will push on with their performances.

"We have confidence in ourselves. We've seen the games when we went away and won last year. We saw how far we went and, with that extra year's experience, it's driven us to aim a bit higher for this year."

Harley returned from the South Seas not only having finally earned that first cap, after a lengthy sequence of involvements as a travelling reserve, but as the saviour of Scotland's summer tour. Had he not come off the bench to score the last-ditch try against Samoa that secured the minimum requirement of three wins against moderate opposition, the management would have been under even greater pressure following a dismal 2011/12 season.

It is a measure, too, of his increasing importance as a standard setter within the Warriors squad that, while even the likes of John Barclay and Chris Cusiter are returning on the bench, Harley has, along with the club captain Al Kellock, been reintroduced directly into the starting XV following the team's three pre-season defeats.

The presence of such individuals within that collective set-up should encourage Glasgow supporters to believe that, for all the upheaval caused by the unexpected shake-up of their team's management by its Scottish Rugby Union owners, there is a determination to ensure that the progress made is not undermined.

It remains to be seen whether change brings the style and flair the men of Murrayfield presumably hope they have added to a set-up which had brought, by a long way, the closest thing to sustained success experienced by Scottish provincial teams in the professional era. Either way, as they tonight head for Ulster and thereafter, Glasgow can rely on those who have had inculcated in them the resolve to fight to maintain their place among the leading Celtic teams.

These three defeats suffered under new management should be discounted, not least because of the absence of such as Harley who will ensure, largely through example, that these Warriors know what is expected of them.

"Pre-season games are great because they get guys out working and trying some of the structure in a competitive environment for the first time but, when it comes to results, it's the first league game and then through the season that counts," said Harley. "Pre-season results don't really affect that. We did debrief after each game and learned what we could from what we did. It's now the real challenge starting."

That challenge could hardly be more formidable, albeit Glasgow find themselves up against a team that is in a strangely similar situation to their own, since Brian McLaughlin, the head coach who steered Ulster to their first Heineken Cup final in 13 years, was duly sacked for his efforts.

If it is an advantage for his opposite number to have reduced expectations in starting this first campaign away from home, the traditional Irish way of being even more careful with reintroducing international players who have been on summer tours perhaps offers Mark Anscombe, Ulster's new head coach, some room for manoeuvre.

Both coaches would give a great deal to get off to a flying start at a venue which Gregor Townsend has described as among his favourites, but which everyone in the home camp has better reason for feeling that way about.

The Warriors' head coach must, then, hope that being able to bring in a posse of internationalists will mean Glasgow have the knowhow to overcome home advantage. To that end, at least, Harley is prepared to acknowledge that his new-found status can help his team.

"In terms of the confidence of having played at that level, it's a big boost but, in terms of attitude, it's just another motivation to try to do it again and keep on improving," he said. "It's been great for me coming back into pre-season and seeing how hard everyone here has been working, how much everyone's improving with the work the guys are doing in the gym and on their skills. If you don't have that attitude of constantly wanting to improve you're going to go backwards pretty quickly."

Rob Harley is a true team man so it was no surprise when a question about his individual status was answered with a message about the collective that is the Glasgow Warriors playing squad.

Did he feel more of a senior figure within the squad a year ago, when he was asked to captain a callow side in the absence of their World Cup-bound colleagues, or now that, he too, has become a full internationalist, but is part of a group packed with Test experience from all over the world?

"I think maybe the whole squad's taken a step in terms of experience and the depth we have, and that's exciting," Harley replied. "Where last year we had a lot of new faces – some playing their first season, while it was only my second season in professional rugby – those guys have been terrific performers. We have players like Chris Fusaro, who has been a stand-out, and others who have just come back from winning their first caps, like Ryan Grant and Tom Ryder, who'll take the same confidence I've taken from that, so will push on with their performances.

"We have confidence in ourselves. We've seen the games when we went away and won last year. We saw how far we went and, with that extra year's experience, it's driven us to aim a bit higher for this year."

Harley returned from the South Seas not only having finally earned that first cap, after a lengthy sequence of involvements as a travelling reserve, but as the saviour of Scotland's summer tour. Had he not come off the bench to score the last-ditch try against Samoa that secured the minimum requirement of three wins against moderate opposition, the management would have been under even greater pressure following a dismal 2011/12 season.

It is a measure, too, of his increasing importance as a standard setter within the Warriors squad that, while even the likes of John Barclay and Chris Cusiter are returning on the bench, Harley has, along with the club captain Al Kellock, been reintroduced directly into the starting XV following the team's three pre-season defeats.

The presence of such individuals within that collective set-up should encourage Glasgow supporters to believe that, for all the upheaval caused by the unexpected shake-up of their team's management by its Scottish Rugby Union owners, there is a determination to ensure that the progress made is not undermined.

It remains to be seen whether change brings the style and flair the men of Murrayfield presumably hope they have added to a set-up which had brought, by a long way, the closest thing to sustained success experienced by Scottish provincial teams in the professional era. Either way, as they tonight head for Ulster and thereafter, Glasgow can rely on those who have had inculcated in them the resolve to fight to maintain their place among the leading Celtic teams.

These three defeats suffered under new management should be discounted, not least because of the absence of such as Harley who will ensure, largely through example, that these Warriors know what is expected of them.

"Pre-season games are great because they get guys out working and trying some of the structure in a competitive environment for the first time but, when it comes to results, it's the first league game and then through the season that counts," said Harley. "Pre-season results don't really affect that. We did debrief after each game and learned what we could from what we did. It's now the real challenge starting."

That challenge could hardly be more formidable, albeit Glasgow find themselves up against a team that is in a strangely similar situation to their own, since Brian McLaughlin, the head coach who steered Ulster to their first Heineken Cup final in 13 years, was duly sacked for his efforts.

If it is an advantage for his opposite number to have reduced expectations in starting this first campaign away from home, the traditional Irish way of being even more careful with reintroducing international players who have been on summer tours perhaps offers Mark Anscombe, Ulster's new head coach, some room for manoeuvre.

Both coaches would give a great deal to get off to a flying start at a venue which Gregor Townsend has described as among his favourites, but which everyone in the home camp has better reason for feeling that way about.

The Warriors' head coach must, then, hope that being able to bring in a posse of internationalists will mean Glasgow have the knowhow to overcome home advantage. To that end, at least, Harley is prepared to acknowledge that his new-found status can help his team.

"In terms of the confidence of having played at that level, it's a big boost but, in terms of attitude, it's just another motivation to try to do it again and keep on improving," he said. "It's been great for me coming back into pre-season and seeing how hard everyone here has been working, how much everyone's improving with the work the guys are doing in the gym and on their skills. If you don't have that attitude of constantly wanting to improve you're going to go backwards pretty quickly."