IF a tired Glasgow Warriors squad had needed a lift following their first defeat of the season no better character could have been reintroduced than Stuart Hogg and his new head coach reckons that the two time British & Irish Lion is in the shape to perform better than ever.

It seems a bold claim, but Dave Rennie reckons he has the statistical evidence to back it up.

“He’s got himself into the best nick of his life,” the New Zealander asserted. “He has broken the club record in regard to speed. It’s straight-out speed. On Thursday he ran 36.8 km/h. That’s the top speed he hit, which is massive, just over 10 metres per second. He’s in good nick.

“He has dropped a lot of weight so he is a lot leaner. He has a massive kicking game, he’s electric on the field and he’s really demanding. He’ll put pressure on other guys and challenge them to perform well. He’s gold to have back in. His energy has been really infectious around the group.”

Rennie went so far as to suggest that, as disappointing as it may have been for his Lions tour to end as it did when he suffered a fractured eye socket, the time out may prove invaluable in terms of the 25-year-old’s overall career.

“We’ve been able to really personalise his return to play and a lot of that is about getting him more powerful and explosive and leaner and faster. Hoggy has always been quick; he’s just quicker than he’s ever been now,” Rennie said. “It’s great to have him. He’s very excited. No doubt he will be a bit rusty in some areas, but he’s a quality player and we expect him to come out and perform well.”

His return comes at a vital time in Glasgow’s season as they seek to keep themselves in contention in the European Champions Cup, but he is not the only back three player bringing an injection of energy since Italian international winger Leonardo Sarto has also been recalled.

“He did his ankle against Munster, so we left him out against Treviso, then he played against the Cheetahs. We’ve got real competition for places out there,” Rennie said of the winger. “Leo’s performance against Munster was phenomenal, so we’re keen to get him out there and ask some questions of Leinster’s defence.”

Not that the coach felt their presence was required to boost their colleagues, in spite of the loss in Exeter that has left them bottom of Pool 3.

“It’s been brilliant… really good energy throughout the week. We’ve trained really well. The guys are excited,” added Rennie. “We were disappointed we didn’t get the job done (in Exeter), because we know if we could have done some things better it could have had a difference. When you’re playing against these sides you’ve got to take your opportunities, be more clinical.We fell short in some key areas.”

History tells us there is a substantial gap between the Pro14 in which they are unbeaten this season and Europe, as best exemplified by their respective records against Irish teams. While Glasgow regularly fare well against their Celtic neighbours in domestic competition they have lost their last nine matches against the Irish in the Champions Cup.They face, then, opponents who target and know how to raise their game for this competition and a team that has also been significantly strengthened with the return of Hogg’s Lions colleague Jonny Sexton as well as front five trio Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Australian Scott Fardy, all of them internationals and vastly experienced. However, in acknowledging that and accepting that a change of approach is required for Europe, Rennie maintains that his men cannot allow themselves to be too focused on the outcome today.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve approached it too differently,” he said. “We’ve done things a little bit differently, I guess, with regard to the overall European competition. The Pro14 stops for a couple of weeks and you get an opportunity to test yourself against the best. We’ve gone about our week working hard to remedy what didn’t go so well last week.”