GLASGOW Warriors signing Greg Peterson is about to experience the “weird” feeling of playing against his new team-mates before he plays alongside them.

The lock forward is part of the United States team that lost their first match in the Rugby World Cup to Samoa last weekend.

But he is confident they can bounce back from that disappointment when they take on Scotland at Elland Road, Leeds, on Sunday.

“It will be a bit weird as they will be team-mates,” said Peterson, who spent a week training with Glasgow before joining up with the American squad just before the World Cup.

“I didn't meet any of the Scottish representatives when I was up there” - the Warriors’ internationals were all away with Scotland - “but I heard a lot about them.

"Maybe there will be a few awkward hugs and handshakes after the game.”

Peterson, who has left Leicester Tigers and signed a two-year deal with the PRO12 champions, decided it was important to meet head coach Gregor Townsend and the players before leaving for the World Cup.

“I had been in touch with the coach and I wanted to get in and meet the team,” he said.

“Joining a new team part of the way into a season is tough, so I wanted to meet as many of the players as I could to establish the bond straightaway.

“Gregor pretty much sat me down and told me the Warriors are a hard-working team and said he thought I fitted the bill for the team.

I haven't had many opportunities in the past couple of years so I thank him for giving me a chance and I hope it pays off in spades. After the World Cup I’ll pretty much be going straight to Glasgow.”

The Americans lost 25-16 to Samoa, a result that Peterson thinks was due to his team giving away too many penalties.

“Penalties killed as against Samoa. I'm not sure what the penalty count was, but it must have been at least 15-plus. That killed us. Samoa were able to pin us down in our own 22 and get easy points.

“They never really built pressure on us. If we are able to control discipline and our penalty count, then we will be much better.”

Despite that defeat, Peterson thinks Pool B is very much up in the air, thanks largely to Japan’s extraordinary win over South Africa last Saturday. “It’s wide open now. It’s exciting.

“When I looked at it before, I knew that all the matches would be tough, but they are all very much winnable. Japan beating South Africa shows that any team can win on any day. You don't underestimate any team you come up against.”

Scotland assistant coach Duncan Hodge, meanwhile, has praised Warriors No 10 Finn Russell for his increasing maturity and importance to the national team.

The stand-off scored a try in his team’s 45-10 win over Japan on Wednesday, his 23rd birthday, and Hodge is sure he will go from strength to strength.

“The more rugby Finn plays for Glasgow and everyone, it can only help,” Hodge said. “He was pretty assured against Japan.

“He has got strengths that are right up there. He has real qualities to his game. With guys like him you don’t want to restrict that: he wants to play the game and he will make mistakes. Players like him and Hoggy [Stuart Hogg] might be slightly unsafe sometimes, but you don’t want to take away what these guys have got.”