Horne is determined to end season on high note

Games on the Gold Coast last month, been named both player and young player of the season at the club’s recent awards night, and last week earned selection for Scotland’s summer tour to Canada, USA and Argentina.

“My time with the Scotland Under-20s and London Scottish were all a chance to get better and learn and I think that stood me in good stead for this season. It’s brought me on massively as a player and this year I’ve just kept trying to improve,” says Horne.

“It’s been a great season for the squad so far and personally I’ve played a lot more than I would have thought, so it was a massive, massive honour to be voted player of the year. I’m just looking forward to this next couple of weeks now,” he adds, highlighting that it is not quite yet time for him to sit back and reflect on how well things are going.

A win this Friday will tee up a trip to Dublin to take on either Leinster, the newly-crowned champions of Europe, or Munster. It isn’t going to be easy. The Warriors may have been the runaway table-toppers in Conference A of the PRO14 but their form in recent weeks has been less convincing than we were used to before Christmas, with a 26-8 mauling by the Scarlets at the start of April highlighting just how dangerous Friday’s opposition can be.

There is also a suspicion the Warriors have not yet developed the big-game mentality needed to get the better of the top teams when it really matters, and that theory will be tested in five days’ time against last year’s league champions and this year’s Champions Cup semi-finalists.

As far as Horne is concerned, the key to success will be the team staying true to the principles which have been instilled by the club coaches.

“We get a licence to go out and express ourselves. We’ve got talented game-breakers in our team and you’ve got to let them express themselves and have a go, so we play an expansive style,” he added.