He said: "There will be little personal contests within the wider picture, such as Andy Henderson against Tom Philip at centre and Moffat">Stuart Moffat v Derrick Lee at full back.
"Up front, two of the newer members of the Scotland squad, Euan Murray and Craig Smith, should also be involved in an interesting battle. Because there is no Scotland A set-up this season, the Glasgow-Edinburgh meeting takes on even more significance than usual." Gordon also admitted he was looking forward to the prospect of liming up against his World Cup colleague and former Glasgow teammate, Dougie Hall, who failed to play a game in Australia.
"There are always guys there or thereabouts who are vying for your position, and the best way to repel them is just to keep performing better and better. If I resist the temptation to worry about him and concentrate on my own game, then I would hope that my level of performance would be enough to carry me through.
"Edinburgh will also be brimming with frustration, because they probably should have beaten Ulster. They shot themselves in the foot with the way that they played in the first half. Ulster didn't have to work for a couple of their tries and, in the end, the Gunners were left with too much to do. But the bottom line is that they will have put that game to bed and will be wide awake to face us."