Glasgow are no longer clear favourites for 1872 Cup - don't expect matches to sway Gregor Townsend

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh will surely be eager to play expansive and daring rugby. Two or three weeks ago I thought differently. Glasgow have been going well almost since the start of the season and would surely trust their combination of skillful hard forward play and audacious backs.

Edinburgh's prospects looked less rosey then. They were playing less confidently; you felt they weren't quite sure of themselves. Things, however, have looked up since. They were good, daring and confident in beating Bayonne. They looked ready for the challenge.

Some will see this match and the return leg at Murrayfield as Trials for the Six Nations. No doubt this is the case, to some extent anyway. But I think it's not really like that. For one thing, I guess that Gregor Townsend has a pretty clear picture of the squad he will name in a month or so for the Six Nations. Of course injures may make some changes necessary, and it's possible that one or two players may seem to have lost form by then. But I would be very surprised if he has to change his mind much at all.

One reason why this present Scotland team looks the best we have had for a sadly long time is that selection has been consistent or, to put it otherwise, the starting XV and the bench come pretty close to picking themselves. Of course there are players, young ones especially, who will be hoping to make their mark in these two Glasgow-Edinburgh matches. Some will surely do so. But who do you think they might supplant?

To take an example, there are several very big, powerful and skillful locks in both squads, some of whom will surely have long international careers. But at the moment, the men in position, Grant Gilchrist and Scott Cummings, are both playing very well. Indeed from what I have seen these last weeks they look to be playing better than ever. They know what's what in international rugby. As John Rutherford used to say to me when I suggested some young fellow should be picked, "he's good but there's no substitute for experience".

Quite so: Ireland have been very good for six or seven years now. Not the least reason for their success has been Andy Farrell's consistency in selection, a consistency which in the last Six Nations still had him naming veterans Peter O'Mahony and Conor Murray in his match-day squad. That's how it should be.

Those of us old enough to remember the days of International Trials at Murrayfield remember how different, bizarre and sometimes confusing they often were - though certainly in a strange way enjoyable. Now any temptation to regard these two Glasgow-Edinburgh matches in the same light would be ridiculous. For one thing neither club will see these two home and away games as being any sort of international Trial.

This is not because there's a Cup to be won, important as this doubtless is; it's because there are URC points at stake, and getting into the  knock-out stage of the URC is something of greater importance to the club than a shining personal performance is to any individual. No doubt there are personal rivalries, but they are of less account than the team's performance and winning League points.

Glasgow, determined to make a real challenge in the European Champions Cup have reason to be disappointed, yet proud, of their performance in the one point defeat away to Toulon. For one thing they know that it was a match they really should have won, some of their defence close to their own line having been less robust, less well-organised than it should have been. Then they left themselves too much to do in the second half.

I wonder if Franco Smith will again choose to keep some of his most important forwards on the replacement bench for the first 50 minutes. Of course they came so close to winning that his decision was justifiable; and indeed if Duncan Weir, usually such a safe place-kicker - and a man who had sealed so many matches with his boot - hadn't missed a straightforward conversion, the single point defeat would have been a single-point victory.

Ten days ago Glasgow would have been firm favourites - or as firm as a favourite can be in this sort of encounter. Today one might call it an even-game, so well did Edinburgh find form and play with flair against Bayonne. Weather permitting, it should be a cracker of a match, one that confirms what we have come, somewhat daringly, to believe, that Scottish Rugby is in better health than at any time this century.