Peter Murchie revelling in the attention from Chris Paterson

CHRIS Paterson may have retired from playing, but the former Scotland full-back is already being credited with having a positive effect on youngsters striving to emerge from his shadow and pilot a new future for the professional teams.

Tom Brown has had Paterson as a mentor and coach for the past few years and is a fully paid-up fan of the 109-times capped full-back but now Paterson is working across the two teams and Glasgow’s Peter Murchie this week paid tribute to his influence. The 26-year-old has been handed a good run in the team by the injury-enforced absence of Stuart Hogg, which is payback of sorts for the start of last season where Murchie was injured and so opened the door for Hogg to launch himself into a memorable season.

Murchie has been deployed at inside and outside centre as well as in the No 15 jersey at Glasgow but, with Hogg also being viewed as a potential outside centre, he is becoming a crucial figure in the Warriors back-line.

He admitted this week that he feels his skills are improving under Gregor Townsend’s coaching but having Paterson to turn to has provided more confidence, a vital commodity after successive defeats this season and a trip to the home of 
the reigning league champions, Ospreys, looming tomorrow.

Murchie said: “I’ve loved the fact that we’ve had Chris involved. I’ve learned so much from him already. Obviously, he’s a legend but having the chance to sit down with him and go through my whole game, or work on stuff on the training ground has been invaluable. To have that available to me has been good and both Chris and Gregor have given me things to work on. I’ve learned a lot already this summer from Gregor, just sometimes in different way of thinking, and I’ve enjoyed that, but essentially Gregor was a ten and Chris, who was predominantly a 15, knows what’s going on in a full-back’s head and what challenges you face.

“He has some great drills to improve the stuff that we’ve highlighted. It’s great to have a pair of eyes from someone who has been there and done it.

“I do think I’ve improved every single year at Glasgow, in four years here now but under Gregor I think my skills have improved and other things I didn’t realise I had to work on I now am.”