Afshar, in particular, has come in for some criticism for his performances in the three successive defeats but Carolan believes there are few scrum-halves who can perform at Horne’s level. The attack coach said: “Ben has got a good few minutes under his belt now but comparing him to someone like George is comparing apples and oranges. George is a 10 out of 10 scrum half. He’s flawless. The speed that he plays at, the speed he’s able to get the ball away at….everyone else is going to struggle if they’re being compared to that.

“In some ways, it’s unfair to compare everyone else to him or that everyone else should be like him. Ben brings other qualities. He manages the game really well. He’s got a strong kicking game, which has been challenged over the last few weeks in down in South Africa. You can’t afford to kick loose and I thought he kicked really well. We’re patient and tolerant with the young guys. You’ve got to give them time to learn. Part of learning is making errors but we’re with them. It’s not that we’re judging them on a lack of performance when they’re doing their best.”

Glasgow fans could be forgiven for looking at the number of new additions arriving at Edinburgh and feeling they’re being short-changed, especially with six experienced figures about to go out the door. But Carolan insisted that continuing to bring through academy graduates is the only viable long-term strategy for the club.

“We’ve proven over the last number of years that we’ve got to bring young guys through,” he added. “That’s a very strong part of the rugby programme. There are at least eight guys that have been promoted from our academy this year who’ve had various levels of exposure. We’re really excited about their development. Our focus is more about bringing as many of those guys through.

“We haven’t brought in (signed) as many. There are some good guys leaving the building but that’s the evolution of a rugby team too. We’ve got to bring young guys through. We can’t continue to recruit from the outside and take a shot on players who are outside. We’ve got to back the player pathway. We’ve got to back the players that are in the building and allow them to reach their potential in here as well. That’s our job as coaches. It’s to try and get the best out of those guys and see where it goes. If we feel then that we’ve invested so much resource in them and it’s not going to bear fruit with them, we’ll look elsewhere then. But I think we’ve got to look within these walls first.”

Glasgow return to action on Friday night when Cardiff are the visitors for the penultimate game of the URC regular season. Carolan was coy on just when those on the injured list – including Horne, Dobie, Scott Cummings, Gregor Brown, Max Williamson, Alex Craig and Matt Fagerson – would return but hinted that a few weren’t far away.

“Everyone’s back training at various levels. It’s probably a bit early to be able to nail our colours to the mast about what team is going to go out on Friday but everyone’s back. Everyone’s getting a little bit closer to return. We would love to have everyone available. I think when you get to the end of the season, it definitely helps to have momentum, which we hope to build over the next couple of games, but also a full deck. By the playoffs, we hope to have a good chunk of those guys back.

“There are some cracking games over the next few weeks and the top of the table is going to shift around. There are some really interesting heads-to-heads like ourselves and Cardiff. You’ve got Stormers and Ulster this weekend as well and that’s flipped the following week. So, there’s a lot to look forward to and a lot of rugby to be played.”