Glasgow Warrior Rob Harley epitomises new Scottish generation

The Six Nations whitewash was a huge disappointment but a silver lining emerged in the performances of Stuart Hogg, Greig Laidlaw, Lee Jones, Matt Scott, Duncan Weir and Dave Denton. On the summer tour the stars of another group of youngsters rose in the firmament as Ryan Grant, Tom Brown, Tim Visser, Tom Ryder and Harley shone. With full-back Jack Cuthbert and Warriors prop Ed Kalman, that took the number of Scotland debutants last season to 13.

Harley had been left out of the Scotland World Cup squad despite impressing head coach Andy Robinson in the 2012 summer camp, due to his rawness but, when the squad headed for New Zealand, the former West of Scotland forward seized the opportunity to return to Glasgow and take captaincy of the Warriors. His unstinting work-rate proved a key factor in his improvement but also in the leadership of a squad that would reach the RaboDirect PRO12 play-offs. Harley was rewarded at the end of last season with a call-up to the Scotland tour squad and duly repaid the faith of Robinson by scoring the match-winning try against Samoa, which put the seal on an historic first Test series whitewash in the southern hemisphere.

The memory of that try-scoring Test debut will take some time to fade, but Harley is now seeking to use the experience to again push the bar upwards this season and force pressure on the more established Test back rows. He said: “That [try debut] was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and with time off I had time, I guess, to bask in it, see my friends and family, and I think everyone I’d ever met came up to me at some point and congratulated me. It was incredible.”

So, what difference has that tour success and Glasgow’s RaboDirect semi-final experience made to him as a player?

“A tour like that does give you confidence, from having played at that level. It gives me an impetus to go on and improve and experience that again.

“In terms of attitude it’s just another motivation to go and do it again, and to keep on improving. It’s been great for me to come back in in pre-season and see how hard everyone is working, in the gym and on their skills, and how much everyone is improving, because one thing I’ve learned is, if you don’t have that attitude of constantly trying to improve, then you’re going to go back very quickly.”

Harley has handed the captain’s reins back to Al Kellock, but, despite not having featured in the pre-season friendlies, he has been selected for tonight’s opening PRO12 match at Ulster ahead of All Black Angus Macdonald, arguably Glasgow’s top summer signing.

Harley said: “Throughout the squad there is competition for positions. We’ve added depth this year and having brought players back [Rory and Sean Lamont] and brought players in who are internationalists and have played for the All Blacks is going to drive standards up even higher.”

The season ended on a hugely positive note, with Glasgow and Edinburgh competing in semi-finals and Scotland ending a run of defeats with Test victories in the southern hemisphere. One of Harley’s strengths, however, is a realistic approach to rugby and life – optimistic but grounded. He acknowledges the difficulty in winning consistently when all around are also pushing forward. However, he believes much to be possible with a desire founded on an appetite for work and self-improvement.

He is one a new breed of model professionals upon whom Gregor Townsend, Michael Bradley and Andy Robinson are pinning hopes of new levels of success. It begins tonight at Ravenhill, where the Warriors seek to shed pre-season rustiness against the most-improved team of last term, albeit one missing a handful of core performers.

Harley added: “The squad has taken a step where we now have confidence in ourselves. We’ve seen the games we went away and won last year, seen how far we went, and that has driven us to aim a bit higher.”