Scotland centre Sam Johnson is unlikely to be involved in Glasgow Warriors’ clash against Scarlets at Scotstoun on Sunday evening, although the knee injury which has kept him out of action since professional rugby emerged from lockdown last month has almost cleared, which is promising with regard to him playing some role in the national team’s upcoming Autumn Test schedule.

“He is on track but whether he makes this weekend is questionable,” said Warriors head coach Danny Wilson. “That's not based on him not being fit but because he hasn't been able to complete a full week of training yet and it's very important that he gets through the right stages.

“He is very close to that, but he needs to complete a full week of training this week and then we will make a decision on whether he has done enough to go into a full game.”

Meanwhile, tight-head prop Zander Fagerson and open-side flanker Tom Gordon are bith looking good to return to the fold after missing out on last weekend’s defeat away to Connacht because they were self-isolating following exposure to somebody who had been exposed to the Covid-19 virus.

“They have tests to complete but, at the moment, it’s so far so good,” said Wilson. “We will know for definite later in the week.”

After a frustrating start to the 2020-21 PRO14 season, when they scored 24 points at Connacht but still came up short due to a combination of poor discipline and bad decision making at key moments, Warriors face another stiff challenge this coming weekend against a Scarlets team which will be eager to bounce back following their 27-30 home defeat to Munster in round one.

“They are another team that will play as well off unstructured rugby as Connacht did,” said Wilson. “A couple of times we kept the ball on the field from deep exits against Connacht which cost us. There are little things we need to improve because if you feed Scarlets in the wrong part of the pitch, they have lethal counter-attack players. They have a very deep squad of quality rugby players and they will hurt you.

“At the same time, I think we showed our attacking intent against Connacht. We don't want to lose that flair and way of playing because it is an important way to score points and I thought we scored three outstanding tries, each very different- one was forward dominated and the others were two strike plays, so we need to build on that but we certainly can't feed the Scarlets as we did Connacht at times.”

"Looking back at the game, we played some really good stuff. We played some really good attacking rugby and we had some really good defensive sets. But you look at their tries, especially the third try that won then the game, which came from a loose kick in the air, two players colliding, Pete Horne comes out the line too hard and falls over, and the next minute they are down the other end of the pitch and have scored. Those are things we have to stamp out and be better at."

Wilson has made no secret of his frustration at the number of penalties his team conceded last week, and he will be quick to point out that Leigh Halfpenny – the Scarlets, Wales and Lions full-back – drilled home nine successful penalties against Munster.

The condensed nature of this season means that another loss would really pile the pressure on Warriors as they enter a six match stretch of games during which they are likely to be without several internationalists – including Fraser Brown, Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Ali Price, George Horne and Adam Hastings – who will all likely be on Autumn Test duty.

“We are in the very earliest stages of making adjustments to the way we play,” said Wilson, when asked if it was too early to describe this as a must-win game. “The pressure of winning every game is there and we all know and feel it, but at the same time, what we are focusing on at the moment is making sure that we make the improvements we need to make.

“If we make those steps along the road at the right time it will build, and we will be more consistent than we were at the weekend. We played some good stuff and there were good examples of that, but there were too many soft opportunities we fed the opposition, and we need to stamp that out.”