Since early on in his time in charge it has been clear that Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie has seen Peter Horne as a key figure in his planning and his readiness to adapt to the team's needs has already been demonstrated.

From the moment it was announced that Finn Russell was departing the organisation, Rennie made it clear that he saw that as an opportunity to give added responsibility to a man in whom he had quickly developed considerable trust, indicating that he intended to give him more opportunity to establish his credentials as a stand-off.

The rapid emergence of Adam Hastings as a budding stand-off, earning his first caps on Scotland's tour last summer may, then, have given the impression that different selection pressures will now apply but that is not how Horne sees it in spite of having made his first appearance of the season in his more familiar role at inside centre.

"I don't think too much has changed," he said.

"I don't think I was meant to play last weekend if Sammy [Johnson] had been fit. Nothing much changes with me. I will just do the job and try and do it the best I can.

"I have done a lot of work at ten in pre-season, but I have also done a lot of work at twelve. I don't think I will be pigeon-holed with one position. We will see how it goes. It has not done me too much harm in the past being able to play in more than one position."

Indicating that he has discussed the prospect of challenging his long-standing play-making partner for the Scotland No.10 jersey with former Glasgow and current national coach Gregor Townsend, Horne admitted that it is slightly strange not to have the mercurial Russell around, following his big-money move to French club Racing 92, but indicated that adjusting to his absence is just part of playing professional rugby.

"Finn is a good boy, a good mate. Yeah it has been a bit funny but when you go out at training you kinda forget who is running all about," he said.

"There is plenty of experience out there and the young boys' enthusiasm is there too and picks us up. It is always the same. You say farewell to certain players and feel you are going to miss them but when the season kicks off you crack on."

No-one is providing more of a spark than his own kith and kin, younger brother George having established himself in the past season and while that has meant there is a slight change in the nature of the advice being offered, the encouragement he offered when the scrum-half was facing challenges in his career now laced with some caution, big brother is still big brother.

"I am delighted George is flying and hopefully he can have a good year," he said.

"There will be a lot more eyes on him this season. That is a challenge he has to rise up to. We have discussed things and he has certain things to help him with his game so I am sure he will rise to it and have another good year.

"A lot of folk think he is a lot younger than he is. He done it the hard way. He worked hard. He was called too small, he wasn't whatever and he went away and was at London Scottish and was on the bench a fair bit and it has not been easy, but he has kept working and kept his head down and thankfully he got his reward.

"Like I said to him,'that is the easy bit done.' He has had a good year and it is time for him to show what he is made off and to show he was right to earn his caps and so on."

Not that he is suggesting they were anything other than fully merited on the back of a superb season in which he proved any doubters wrong and Horne sr is impressed by the way he did that, not least in proving that even in the professional era of inflated physiques, good enough is big enough, just as the likes of Welshman Shane Williams have done previously.

"I told him I had that for years, but you try and find a niche and make yourself indispensable if you can," said Horne.

"He showed a real edge to his game last year. He is really powerful and he works hard in the gym, it is not like he shirks that. He bursts his ass in there which is why he is more powerful. That is why he can wriggle out a lot of tackles. He plays to his strengths."

It is not difficult to see why Rennie, having given the younger of the two the chance to shine that he so readily grabbed last season, is attracted to the prospect of having fraternal understanding at the heart of the team's decision-making process and Peter's analysis of where things stand after the opening weekend re-affirm why Rennie has so much confidence in the 28-year-old.

"We are happy, we got five points and we would have taken that if you had offered us that before we went over there. To get that one squared away and come away with maximum points is good but obviously we have to improve going into Munster this week which is good," he said.

"If we won by 50 last week we would be thinking we were Dan the man. We have had a good week's training, the minds are sharp, we are up for the challenge and know what it takes to win games. The league is going to be tough this year but after last week we are in a good place."

As to that Munster challenge, while they are not yet expected to be at full strength, there is an awareness of what will be required to steal a march on the team that finished second to them in Pro14 Conference A last season and can be expected to be Glasgow's biggest rivals again.

"It doesn't take much to get up for a Munster game. It is Test match intensity and they will be physical. They want to out muscle you and lay down a marker. We have to stand up and show what we are all about."

It is important, too, to make an early statement that Glasgow will not be bullied as they were too often in the bigger matches last season.

"We maybe got a bit stick last season for being soft in the underbelly at times. There is no way of proving that wrong other than on the pitch," said Horne.

"I guess there were times last year we lost games we should have won and did not defend all that well. We are not too worried about what everyone is saying but within our four walls we want to show real dogged defence this year and make sure we are coming out and putting something out on the field that the fans can get behind and see a bit of themselves out there."