Jamie Ritchie is targeting a return to the Scotland fold on Monday after ending a torturous eight months of injury problems with an impressive Glasgow Warriors debut in Treviso.

The 30-year-old signed from Perpignan in the summer after just one year in France, but the former Edinburgh stalwart was forced to wait for his first minutes as he recovered from ankle and Achilles tendon issues.

Named on the blindside flank for Saturday’s trip to Benetton, Ritchie produced a typically industrious and physical 80-minute display as Warriors recovered from 17 points down to win 24-20 thanks to a late Jare Oguntibeju try.

It was good timing for the 63-times-capped former Scotland captain to showcase his return to form and fitness, with Gregor Townsend set to make his postponed squad announcement for the Nations Championship on Monday.

‘I’m long enough in the tooth now to know that all you can do is control how you play and how you pitch up,’ Ritchie said.

‘Obviously, I’m reasonably experienced internationally now, so Gregor knows what he will get from me if he decides to pick me. But my job is play and train as best I can and, if given the opportunity, then obviously I would love to be back involved.’

Should Ritchie return to the Scotland mix, there will be no soft landing; the All Blacks are first up in Edinburgh this autumn, before Australia and Japan also visit.

Ritchie was once a nailed-on starter in the Scotland back row, but the emergence of the likes of Gregor Brown, Liam McConnell and Freddie Douglas to add to a pool already featuring Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson, Jack Dempsey, Magnus Bradbury and Josh Bayliss has made competition for places fierce.

‘I think there was probably a time where you would have been reasonably confident of getting in the team,’ Ritchie reflected.

‘But now, it’s one of those ones where we’re all very good at different things and sometimes it’s horses for courses and you might be playing really well but you might not get in.

‘We’re all really close, we all support each other, but the competition in the back row for Scotland is up there. So like I say, it’s the same with selection for the squad itself, all you can do is control how you perform, how you play and play to your own strengths.’

While Ritchie is already deeply familiar with many of his new club-mates from Scotland duty, the sight of him in a Glasgow shirt will have elicited a double-take from many Scottish rugby fans.

The flanker played for Edinburgh for 11 years and is a former captain of Glasgow’s 1872 Cup rivals, and he admitted he is still getting used to his new surroundings.

‘I think for the first wee while, getting the kit on, it took me a minute,’ Ritchie said. ‘It felt a little bit strange, but the boys have been super welcoming.

‘I’m just really excited. I’ve watched Glasgow for a long time. I nearly played for Glasgow when I first started playing pro rugby so it’s something that’s maybe been coming for a while.

‘I’m delighted it’s happened now and just really excited to get stuck in and hopefully keep improving.’

Ahead of the trip to Treviso, where Glasgow had won just one of their previous six visits and were coming off back-to-back defeats, Warriors attack coach Nigel Carolan said the time had come to ‘unleash’ Ritchie.

The flanker was busy at the breakdown, hard in the tackle, a roaming threat in the loose and solid under the high ball as he made a strong start in Glasgow colours at the Stadio Monigo.

Asked how he felt the debut went, he said: ‘Yeah, good. My body took a wee bit longer to come back than I maybe would have hoped but I’m just delighted to be back out there.

‘I probably wasn’t expecting to get through 80 minutes but I’m glad I did and felt pretty good.

‘A little bit dusty, a little bit rusty in terms of some of my touches and how I’m moving, but I’m feeling good and I just want to keep playing now.’