As he takes the Scotstoun stage for the last time as a Glasgow Warrior Finn Russell can be the star of the show, but the man in charge of the production has urged him not to try too hard.

A player who has split opinions down the years with his willingness to gamble, turning matches both for and against the teams he is playing for, Russell heads for France this summer as a result of a glamour move to Paris club Racing 92 that will improve his spending power if nothing else. 

Dave Rennie, the club’s head coach, is among those who have seemed deeply frustrated by the Scotland play-maker’s devil-may-care approach to his duties during the New Zealander’s first season in charge at the club, on more than one occasion preferring Peter Horne as his stand off this season for important matches.

He is, however, placing his trust in the experience of the now 37 times capped Russell for what is the Warriors’ biggest match of the season as they face the Scarlets in the Pro14 semi-final, albeit in explaining his decision he dropped in a reminder that he demonstrated the last time these teams met that he is prepared to employ the sporting equivalent of the music hall hook and shout ‘next’ if a leading light is not putting in the expected quality of performance.

“I just want Finn to relax and do the obvious. I don’t want him to be overawed by the occasion,” said Rennie.

“We are lucky. He has played a lot of Test footy. He has led us around the park in regard what we have done over the last couple of weeks. 

“He is clear on his role. He is disappointed at how he went against these guys last time when he only got 40 minutes and we are expecting better things and so is he. 

“He is a good player, an important part of our make-up. He is in the right head space.”

Capable as he is of magical moments on the rugby field, Russell’s predilection for trying to produce the unexpected has also proven costly all too often and Rennie is consequently calling on him to focus on taking a strategic approach to the game, while picking his moments judiciously to look to do anything out of the ordinary.

“I guess what I am trying to say is if there is space and it makes sense to kick it we kick it. If there are opportunities to keep the ball in hand we do that. We don’t need to try and pull rabbits out of our backsides, type of thing,” he said.

“I have a lot of confidence in him. He has prepared well and is excited by the challenge.”

That the coach is prepared to set reputations aside when necessary is demonstrated in the non-selection of Russell’s friend, flat-mate and international half-back partner of recent years Ali Price, who misses out on involvement altogether as the club’s player of the season George Horne retains his place in the starting line-up.

“We have picked George on his form,” Rennie explained.

“He is a bit of a freak in regards to his speed and conditioning. He is a leader, gets to the breakdown very quickly, he is consistent and electric and has a great ability to get second touches. 

“He has worked really hard on his distribution game and is passing really well, likewise with his kicking game. He is a tough little bugger, he is competitive and we like that about him.”

Henry Pyrgos, who was captaining Scotland just two years ago and was an integral member of the Warriors side that won the Pro12 title a year before that, has meanwhile shown a sound attitude throughout a season in which he was marginalised for long periods and has forced his way back into favour as it has gone on, to the extent that he is rewarded for that with a place on the bench for this vital match.

“Henry gets the back up because he is a little bit different, more experienced with an excellent kicking game,” Rennie explained. 

“He will control the game really well and Ali and George are really similar, hence we went Henry.”

While the coach’s rationale is wholly understandable in terms of the way Horne has been playing, what could have worked against the youngster, ahead of a match of this importance, is that he has had nothing like as much game time in partnership with Russell as either Pyrgos or Price.

Rennie, though, has seen more than enough to be confident that as long as they are given a decent supply of possession to work with, they can call the shots in tandem.

“From a combination point of view obviously they’ve played less together compared to maybe a couple of our other nines, but they’re training all the time and even when George wasn’t necessarily starting he still linked a lot with Finn at training, so the combination’s not an issue,” said the coach.

“They’re both pretty expressive players, so if our big men can get us on the front foot they’ll both be a handful.”

His squad selection will meanwhile inevitably fuel speculation that if Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill is to have his way and persuade the Scottish teams’ Murrayfield owners that one of the Warriors’ three scrum-halves should be sent along the M8 to his club, then it is now likeliest to be the player who began this season as the national team’s No.9.

Rennie said earlier this week that there have been no negotiations to that end, however, and that it has simply been a case of following through on his commitment to rewarding what players are doing rather than what they have previously done, Price’s form having dipped after he spent several weeks playing second fiddle to Greig Laidlaw during the Six Nations once Scotland’s most-capped captain returned to the fray.

At this stage, then, the more important discussions have been with his player in ensuring that Price fully understands where things stand and is aware of what he needs to do.

“We are constantly having one to ones with the players. They can be disappointed about not playing but they can’t say they haven’t been informed as to why,” said Rennie.

“It is not easy and from a national point of view you have Laidlaw who kicks goals and is an important of their programme. Ali spent a lot of time backing up there.

“We always said we would pick on form and reputations would count for nothing. We have backed that up and we think George has been excellent and will have a great future and he deserves to get a start,” the Warriors coach added.