DAVID SOLE

It has been a great weekend for the Scottish professional teams as both qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions Cup, courtesy of Edinburgh’s dogged win over Montpellier.

The capital side topped their group, meaning they will have the benefit of a home tie come the knock-out stages and based on their form at the moment, it would be a fool to bet against them reaching a second semifinal of this prestigious competition.

Glasgow, on the other hand, have to travel in the knock-out round and there is an irony that they had to rely on Edinburgh to win if they were to progress.

Despite that, it’s a terrific achievement for both clubs – particularly in the case of Edinburgh who have been in the shadow of Glasgow for so long now.

Many players in both squads will have been buoyed by Gregor Townsend’s squad announcement for the 6 Nations, which kicks off on February 2.

The Scottish coach named seven uncapped players in a large squad, including Edinburgh’s Chris Dean and David Cherry, Glasgow’s D’arcy Rae, Sam Johnson and Grant Stewart and the two exiles, Gary Graham from Newcastle and Leicester’s Jake Kerr.

Cherry, Kerr and Stewart are beneficiaries of the hooker injury

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Last year, props were dropping like flies, this year it’s hookers

crisis that has afflicted Scotland this year.

Last year, props were dropping like flies, this year it’s hookers.

Indeed, when you read the list of players who are unavailable to Townsend, it makes impressive reading.

Centre is also an area which seems to have gone from abundance to scarcity. The injury-hit Duncan Taylor and Mark Bennett and the out-ofform Alex Dunbar have made way for Dean and Johnson.

It will be interesting to see what combination Townsend eventually lands on for the opening match, not least because Huw Jones has also been under the weather for Glasgow.

Yet, while some positions lack depth, others are almost over-flowing.

Scotland are currently blessed with a number of excellent second-row forwards and the talent pushing captain Greig Laidlaw at scrum-half is impressive.

What’s more, no players can afford to rest on their laurels.

Tommy Seymour won a deserved place on the last Lions tour, but he is being pushed hard for his place on the wing after a poor run of form – Darcy Graham in particular, looking very sharp indeed.

It all feels promising – European success will undoubtedly help confidence. The only concern is that players in some key positions remain fit.