IN-DEMAND Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend has insisted he is going nowhere, after a report from London linked him with the post of director of rugby at Harlequins. Townsend, whose team play Scarlets this afternoon in a vital PRO12 match, is under contract at Scotstoun until the summer of 2017 and said he plans to stay.

“There was a story in the press that is a complete non-story,” he said yesterday, referring to a story in London’s Evening Standard which said Harlequins were lining him up to succeed Conor O’Shea as the club’s director of rugby. “I am contracted here next year and that is where I will be staying.

“People get linked to jobs all around the place, but, as you know, I signed a contract for next year and I’m really looking forward to being here next year. I wasn’t approached by them, and will not be talking about this again.”

Contracts can be bought out, of course, and that happened last year when Bath paid compensation to Edinburgh for their under-contract forward David Denton. Leone Nakarawa is also due to leave the Warriors for Racing 92 in the summer despite still having a year left to go on his current agreement.

But, when those cases were put to him, Townsend implied he would not be a similar case. “I’m contracted until next season,” he said. “Don’t throw these curve balls in there. I’m staying here.”

Nakarawa and another departing star, Taqele Naiyaravoro, are on the bench for this afternoon’s game in Llanelli, where a win can help the Warriors close in on their goal of a home semi-final in the play-offs. Glasgow won narrowly at Scarlets on European duty earlier in the season, and Townsend is ready to turn to the firepower of the Fijian and the Australian late in the game if it hangs in the balance.

“We know Leone and Taqele’s strengths, and everyone in the squad has a role to play. Leone has been playing really well, but it’s one of those positions where we have so much competition.

“Greg Peterson has been playing really well, Jonny [Gray] has been consistently outstanding in attack, defence and set-piece, while Tim [Swinson] has really come on to a good game with Scotland and now us. It’s a very good situation for me to be in where we can have someone like Leone on the bench.”

Up to 20 members of the Scarlets squad were said to have fallen ill earlier this week, but the team named yesterday has only a few absentees through physical injury. “It sounds like what we had last week in Italy,” Townsend added. “If it’s a similar bug it’s out of the system in 24 hours. We expect Scarlets to be at full strength."

Stuart Hogg and Josh Strauss both start for Townsend’s team after being rested last week. But there is no place for centre Peter Horne, who has delayed concussion.

Glasgow Warriors (v Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets, today 3.15pm): S Hogg; T Seymour, M Bennett, A Dunbar, L Jones; F Russell, H Pyrgos; G Reid, F Brown, S Puafisi, T Swinson, J Gray, R Harley, R Wilson, J Strauss. Substitutes: P MacArthur, J Yanuyanutawa, Z Fagerson, L Nakarawa, T Holmes, G Hart, D Weir, T Naiyaravoro.