Scotland's big winger question and the candidate that has moved to front of queue

A bang on the shin meant he wasn't able to finish the match but if he doesn’t recover in time for this Friday's game against Cardiff in Wales, he will almost certainly return for the home fixture with Zebre the following week.

Steyn's importance to the Warriors can't be overstated. Franco Smith called him “a wonderful leader” after the Benetton game and his value to Scotland is likely to become equally evident in the coming weeks as the national team welcome Fiji, South Africa, Portugal and Australia to Murrayfield for the Autumn Nations Series.

The 30-year-old may not score as many spectacular tries as Duhan van der Merwe or Darcy Graham but when it comes to his all-round game he is the form winger in Scottish rugby, a point not lost on Nigel Carolan, Glasgow's attack coach.

“I'm probably a little bit biased as I see how hard Kyle works,” said Carolan. “He's obviously in our leadership group. He pushes the standards really highly but for him it starts with himself. He works hard on his own game and it's not just X-factor. The fact he was on the end of a couple of tries at the weekend, it just shows how hard he works. But the nuts and bolts of his game are in place too. His high ball skills are exceptionally good. He works really hard.

“I just think he's got a package in his game that has a lot of threats. With ball in hand he's excellent, his high ball is good and he has that kicking game as well. I'm quite biased in where I see him. I just think he's got a lot more strings on his bow.

“I think at international level it's great to be at the end of tries and having that X-factor but having his work rate and the consistency of his performance I think it's got to turn heads and it's got to make the national coaches take more interest.”

Steyn played just twice in last year's World Cup, against Tonga and Romania, with van der Merwe and Graham preferred for the 'blockbuster' clashes with South Africa and Ireland. But, by the time the Six Nations came round, Graham was injured and Steyn was back in the frontline, starting four of Scotland's five matches. He was also one of only three players to feature in all four of Scotland's summer tour matches in North and South America.

So Gregor Townsend is acutely aware of his qualities and the national coach should have a formidable stable of wingers to choose from for the autumn Tests, with Graham returning from injury for Edinburgh, van der Merwe scoring a couple of tries against Leinster recently and Kyle Rowe and Arron Reed also impressing on the summer tour. It is, in sporting parlance, a nice problem to have, particularly when the world champion Springboks are among the November visitors to Edinburgh.

It’s hard to see past Steyn at the moment but the Glasgow captain’s immediate aim is to recover from the shin injury he sustained against Benetton. “He's working through that,” said Carolan. “He was in a [protective] boot over the weekend so we'll see how he progresses through the week. But it's not too bad an injury. It's not something that's going to keep him out long term. If he's not involved this weekend he'll be back involved the following week.”

Glasgow are also monitoring Adam Hastings and George Horne after both failed initial head injury assessments against Benetton. Hastings was running at Scotstoun on Monday and has “recovered reasonably well,” reported Carolan. “It's still early in the week so he's working through his protocols,” added the coach. “As is George Horne.”

It was Hastings' first start in a Glasgow jersey since his return from Gloucester and he showed flashes of his trademark creativity during the 40 minutes he was on the field. His long flat pass helped spark the move which led to Steyn's opening try and he also slotted a couple of conversions before being taken out rather cynically by Benetton lock Scott Scrafton who was rightly red-carded.

“It was a pity because I thought he was directing traffic in our attack really well,” Carolan said of Hastings. “He was changing direction, he was mixing the game up really well. He showed some really good touches, particularly for that first score off the lineout. His pass was just on the money.

“I was pleased to see him out there in his first start. He's shown some signs that he's going to be a right tussle with him and Tom Jordan for our 10 position there, and Duncan [Weir] did reasonably well when he came on. We've got three competitive 10s and Adam's definitely got some sprinkle dust there. He's got a little bit of magic.”

The loss of Hastings, Horne and Steyn left Glasgow short-handed in the back division during the second half, a consequence of having only two backs on the bench. It meant Euan Ferrie was redeployed as an emergency winger and the forward impressed in the unfamiliar role, scoring the Warriors' sixth and final try of the night.

“It's unusual but it's the risk you run when you have a 6-2 split on the bench,” said Carolan. “Those players are used to running out there as those wide runners in our attack shape. They’re used to being in space. It's just being able to finish when the opportunities arise for them. I thought he did a great job.”