Zander Fagerson has packed a lot into his 18 years on this earth.

In 2008 he was a member of the National Boys Choir. By 2010 he had become a Scottish youth mountain bike champion. Somewhere along the way, he found time to become a qualified life guard. Oh, and he is also pretty useful at rugby.

So useful, in fact, that he is to make his Guinness PRO12 debut for Glasgow Warriors against Benetton Treviso on Sunday. After impressive displays for Glasgow Hawks and in the Warriors A team's recent meeting with their Edinburgh counterparts, head coach Gregor Townsend decided that the young tighthead prop was ready for the big time and has named him among the replacements for the trip to Italy.

It is a bold move, but as Scottish coaches have erred too far on the side of caution in the past, certainly not a reckless one. Wariors captain Al Kellock raved about Fagerson's performance in the A game, and Townsend made it his business to find out more about the teenage forward.

"Obviously, with a tighthead prop we look at the scrum first of all and he stuck to his tasks really well," said the coach. "But it is also the work he does outside the scrum - ball carrying, clearing out rucks, tackling - where he looks very much at home in the professional environment. We expect him to back that up if he gets on at the weekend."

In truth, the Warriors tighthead cupboard was looking pretty bare, with Euan Murray ruled out of Sunday games by his religious convictions, Jon Welsh sidelined by a shoulder injury and Mike Cusack suffering a long-term illness, but the respective records and league positions of the two sides who will meet in the Stadio Monigo tomorrow permit a more radical approach anyway.

The Warriors go into the match with four wins from four outings, having picked up a couple of try bonuses for good measure. Treviso enter it with a big, fat and hugely embarrassing zero in their league points column, the only team in the PRO12 table yet to get off the mark.

In which light, complacency looks like the biggest threat to Glasgow maintaining their 100% record, but Ulster's error in underestimating Zebre last week has had a salutary effect on Townsend and his squad.

"We mentioned it," said Townsend of the Ravenhill side's 13-6 defeat in Parma. "The players are aware Ulster lost in Italy so we know the dangers of both Zebre and Treviso. If we are not accurate in attack or defence then we will be vulnerable."

The Warriors looked pretty sharp on both fronts when they took on Treviso in the equivalent fixture last May in the penultimate regular-season fixture of the PRO12 campaign. Three tries by Tommy Seymour were the making of their 38-16 win, the third season on the trot that they had travelled to the Veneto and returned with a victory under their belts.

Seymour was an unused replacement in the comfortable, if sometimes defensively suspect, 39-21 victor over Connacht at Scotstoun last weekend, but he comes back into the side for the trip to Italy. As well as his hat trick last season, he also scored a double in Glasgow's last visit to the Stadio Monigo, so he was probably pretty confident of being recalled.

Seymour's return means a move to centre for Sean Lamont, who will be joined in midfield by Peter Horne, with James Downey dropping to the bench. Duncan Weir continues at fly-half, with Finn Russell the replacement cover, but Niko Matawalu takes over from Henry Pyrgos at scrum-half.

However, more radical changes have been made to the Warriors forwards, with Pat MacArthur, who will be playing his 100th game for the club, and Kellock the only members of the pack to survive from the side that started against Connacht.