Glasgow Warriors' George Horne: I peeled myself off the pitch

Scrum-half opens up on Lousi challenge and upcoming task against Harlequins

That George Horne never shirks a challenge was again evidenced by his altercation with Scarlets’ Sam Lousi last weekend.

The 6ft6 Tongan international went in late on the Glasgow Warriors scrum-half as Horne motored past him, flattening him to the ground. Lousi was shown a yellow card but Horne’s first thought was to seek personal retribution, pulling his 5ft9 frame off the turf to confront his attacker.

“I peeled myself off the pitch,” he reflected. “I was fine to be fair. It was a big shot but luckily he caught me on the shoulder and not the head or I’d still be down. I tried to shove him and he didn’t move! And then he turned around and I thought, ‘I’d better not’.”

Glasgow Warriors' George Horne will take on Harlequins on Friday.

Glasgow will need that sort of underdog spikiness in abundance at the Stoop tomorrow night. Franco Smith’s side are in a rich vein of form in the United Rugby Championship but a last 16 Champions Cup tie against a Harlequins squad boasting an array of international talent represents a different challenge.

Warriors haven’t played a knockout tie since their disappointing Challenge Cup final loss to Toulon last May but can take heart from their recent trip to Exeter when only the contentious decision to rule out a late Euan Ferrie try denied them an away win that day. Horne knows how tough it will be to get the better of Harlequins but insists Glasgow will travel with no inferiority complex.

“It’s been a rapid turnaround from the weekend but these weeks are always special, especially going into knockout games,” he added. “We’re excited for a big challenge and looking forward to it.

“We’re always confident. We’ve got the squad of players and the depth that we can challenge any team in Europe hopefully. We’ve got to be at our best. We know that, especially going away from home. We know it will be tough but our best performance and best preparation will hopefully be good enough.”

Horne vs Danny Care will be an intriguing battle, the England veteran last week announcing his retirement from international rugby but still going strong for Quins. The pair were involved in Scotland’s recent Calcutta Cup win but weren’t on the field at the same time and Horne is looking forward to going up directly against a player he’s always admired.

“He’s obviously been around a long time, played a lot of games for Harlequins and England and is a great player. He likes to play the game similar to how I do, a lot of attacking kicks and quick taps, things like that. He always plays with a smile on his face which is good to see. It’s always nice to play against teams from other leagues as you don’t get to play them as often. But we never really see it as Scotland vs England.”

Horne came off the bench that day for Gregor Townsend’s side as he tends to do but has benefited from a run of regular starts for Glasgow since Ali Price moved to Edinburgh.

“Starting game definitely helps you. You get into a rhythm of things playing games, the more minutes you get, the better. So it’s been nice getting a few starts but there’s a lot of competition here and good scrum-halves so it keeps everyone on their toes.”