Glasgow Warriors are willing to put up with domestic disharmony by extending their season, with tonight's meeting with Cardiff Blues going a long way towards deciding whether they match their own achievement two years ago by reaching the play-offs.

However, that will not be enough to satisfy them this time and that has meant changing plans at home according to Ryan Wilson, the No.8 who has been one of this season's most impressive performers.

It has become an unhappy tradition of the professional age that home-based Scottish players have been able to plan for their holidays up to a month ahead of their European counterparts. Reaching the RaboDirect Pro12 final, which will take place on May 26, immediately ahead of the national team's tour of Australia and the South Seas, would put paid to that, but Wilson believes both he and his clubmates are doing the right thing by planning confidently.

"I've got no holidays arranged and I've got all sorts of earfuls from the missus," he laughed. "She's pregnant and hoping to get a holiday before the birth."

That big day is due to be September 8 but in rugby terms Wilson believes there can be another before then. "Winning the RaboDirect in my second year as a pro would be one of the biggest things that could happen to me," he said. "We've organised our schedules right up to the play-off final. We're not looking to get into the play-offs and losing. In every meeting we speak about pushing for the win. It's the right mind-set."

Unashamedly ambitious, Wilson made it clear that he is aiming to join tonight's team-mates Stuart Hogg, Duncan Weir and Jon Welsh by becoming the latest Glasgow player to win a debut international cap in 2012.

Playing well in the remaining four scheduled matches may go some way towards that, but extending the season would give him at least one, and potentially two, more opportunities to impress. To that end he views tonight's meeting with Cardiff as crucial since the Welsh club need to win to stay in contention.

"In order to make the play-offs this is the key game, it could be the turning point," said the 22-year-old. "It's a pretty big game for myself too. In terms of next season as well as aiming to get into the play-offs I need to improve and move on.

"I had a bit of dip in form in mid-season, but the last two or three games I feel that my form is coming back and on top of getting the top four finish. There's Scotland's summer tour coming up which I want to push for as well."

The way Wilson has emerged when he was needed to in the regular absence of John Barclay on international duty and with John Beattie losing form badly, has been the mark of the way that Sean Lineen has manoeuvred and manipulated his resources to achieve a new level of consistency.

A run in which they have lost just once in their last 14 league matches stands in extraordinary contrast to that of inter-city rivals Edinburgh, who have lifted themselves for the big European games but have lost their last seven league matches.

The difference in approach is reflected in the respective selections for tomorrow's matches. All nine of the players returning to Edinburgh from international duty have been put directly into their starting line-up, but three Glasgow players who started in Rome a fortnight ago – Richie Gray, Barclay and Welsh – as well as Ruaridh Jackson, who came off the bench that day, are all among their team's replacements.

These are the tough decisions Lineen has learned to make, sacrificing popularity for effectiveness in generating true competition for places. This match also represents a chance for Mark Dodson to witness first hand the managerial expertise he is depriving Glasgow of since the Scottish Rugby Union's chief executive is expected to be at Firhill. His arrival in the grandstand is unlikely to be greeted as the head coach's was last week, when Lineen received a standing ovation.

Lineen's side also demonstrated against Aironi last week the way he has ensured they have not been distracted by that potentially demoralising decision. Yet the coach knows this is a much bigger challenge against a high-class Cardiff side.

The Welsh club's likely approach was signalled yesterday by the rather surprising decision to leave Dan Parks –who treated the tight Firhill pitch as his own backyard during his record-setting Glasgow career – out of their 23-man match squad.

Their likely desire, then, will be to place the emphasis on the running power of Welsh internationalists Jamie Roberts, Alex Cuthbert and Leigh Halfpenny, as well as New Zealand's Casey Laulala. However, Lineen dismissed the suggestion that Parks' absence could help his side.

"They obviously don't think so," he said. "I don't select their team but they're putting out a very strong back line with a lot of strike power. They're incredibly strong and experienced with several coming off a grand slam and that's the team they have selected."