Gregor Townsend has forged a reputation for making some fairly bold and imaginative selection calls, but the Glasgow Warriors coach has provided a clear hint that his decision to move Rob Harley from his customary station on the blindside flank to the second row could have repercussions far beyond tonight's Guinness PRO12 match with Zebre at Scotstoun Stadium.

Asked if the switch was entirely his own call or if there might have been intervention from the other end of the M8, Townsend offered a wry smile. "It was a discussion, he replied. "They [the Scotland management] knew we were a bit light in the second row and they were fine with him playing there."

Now conspiracy theorists will undoubtedly find something insidious in the suggestion that national interests might have taken precedence over Glasgow's, but the two genuinely seem to be running in parallel at the moment. The 13-times-capped Harley is no lighthouse in the Richie Gray league, but at 6ft 6in, he would still bring a smile to the face of a High and Mighty store manager.

In any case, Harley provides a decent amount of lineout possession to both Glasgow and Scotland when stationed in the back row, so his abilities as a jumper are hardly in doubt. And, as Townsend pointed out, while rugby's positional strictures seem to become narrower with every passing season, there has actually been convergence between the role of a blindside flanker and a lock.

Certainly, an impressive list of players are capable of filling both berths as team requirements demand. Glasgow have moved Tim Swinson and Leone Nakarawa between the two positions, while a host of Test players, Nathan Hines and Jason White being the most prominent Scots of recent times, have done the same.

"Rob is an excellent blindside flanker," said Townsend. "The modern-day second-row players are very similar to blindside flankers. We had Tim Swinson on the flank and you get a lot of second rows who move there. Rob has the workrate of Tim, of Jonny Gray, guys that we have.

"Rob has nailed the number six jersey for us and Scotland in the last season so he is very effective there but giving his line-out ability, his height and his weight in the scrum, I could see him playing second row."

Townsend also highlighted the shift Harley put in when Scotland 'A' scored their stunning 35-0 victory over England Saxons at Netherdale just over three years ago. Harley played alongside Tom Ryder that night, and he will not want for an experienced second-row partner against Zebre this evening as he slots into the role alongside captain Al Kellock.

Kellock expects a rather more fierce performance by the Italian side than the one they turned in at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma last month, when they were humiliated 54-10 by the Scots. At that time, Zebre were in the midst of a full-blown backroom crisis, with rumours of lurid goings-on behind the scenes. Suffice to say, their head coach was out of a job within a couple of days.

Zebre's defence that day was risibly bad, but Townsend recalled that they played some decent rugby in other areas and suggested that they are likely to focus on those parts of the game again. He also stressed that their performance against Glasgow was no guide to the potential of a side which, in their two games since, has run Leinster close and has beaten Newport Gwent Dragons.

Townsend said: "They will look at where they had success against us. They competed well at the breakdown and played from deep. Whether they continue with that, we will see. They have nothing to lose.

"They are coming here with a bit of confidence from the Italy game last weekend and from the way they have played in the last two weeks. They will approach it as they did against Leinster - work to get turnover ball and then move it wide."

Glasgow also ran up 54 points against Zebre in their final league game of last year's PRO12 campaign. Yet while Townsend seemed keen to dampen down expectations, the Warriors, currently sitting second in the table, should certainly be targeting a meeting with the league's bottom-placed side as an opportunity not just for a win but for a bonus point as well. On paper, the only factor conspiring against that outcome is a weather forecast that is borderline gruesome.

Glasgow's run-in to the end of the regular season does not look overly pretty, either. Last year, they covered that stretch in boisterous fashion, with eight straight wins, but postponements meant that six of those fixtures were at Scotstoun. Of the five games remaining after tonight's match, three are on the road, and two of those are against Ospreys and Leinster.

"It is a challenge," Townsend admitted. "But we had a couple of extra games last year, too, with postponed matches against Treviso and Edinburgh, and we thought that was a real challenge because there were not going to be any breaks.

"It is what it is. We know that if we beat teams like Leinster, Ospreys and Ulster, teams in the top four that we still have to play, then that will affect their positions. Those are eight-point games, but we have to make sure we win the other ones as well.

"It's important to win against Zebre. We are a point behind Munster, who go to Ospreys this weekend. If we win we will still be in the top two. We want to go into the break in that position."