Andy Robinson walked away from the conclusion to the 1872 Cup series between Glasgow and Edinburgh with a furrowed brow and a major list of imponderables to reflect upon before he selects his squad for next month’s Six Nations Championship. It won’t be an enviable task, because, befitting Scottish rugby at the moment, there are plenty of positives and negatives swirling around in the mix and even Harry Potter might be struggling to cast a spell which guaranteed success for Robinson’s personnel.

On the plus side, and especially in the aftermath of Glasgow’s emphatic brace of successes over their Edinburgh rivals, there is no shortage of candidates with the skill, commitment and desire to create an impressive Scottish pack for the Six Nations, which commences with a home tussle against France on February 7. Indeed, even with the news that Jason White will miss the tournament through injury, the coach still has an embarrassment of riches in areas such as the back row, where he can choose from Kelly Brown, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie, Richie Vernon, Alasdair Strokosch, Alan MacDonald, Roddy Grant, Dave Callam and several other candidates.

Statistically, Scotland also have access to two of the world’s most prolific goal-kickers, on current form, in Chris Paterson and Dan Parks, while, defensively at least, as they demonstrated during the heroic victory over Australia, they have shed the tag of soft touches and can be relied upon to throw themselves into every contest with a bone-crunching refusal to miss any tackles. That strength, allied to a boost in attendances for the Inter-City fixtures – which drew more than 20,000 fans, despite being shown live on STV – means that our rugby, if not quite in rude health, is in much better shape than it was five years ago.

But, and there always seems to be a but in Scottish sport, it is one thing to be difficult to beat; a totally different proposition to provoke fear amongst other countries. Despite the relative success of Robinson’s troops in the autumn Tests, the Scots only managed two tries in three matches, both of them against a weakened Fijian XV, and Edinburgh have now gone more than 340 minutes without scoring a touchdown, a statistic which was all too understandable to those of us who braved the snow and witnessed their fumbling efforts at Murrayfield. So, too, the success of Parks during the festive-period double-header, has only generated another problem for Robinson, who didn’t even pick the Australian-born stand-off for the autumn internationals, preferring to go with Phil Godman, whose form has slumped dramatically in the last few weeks.

That’s the way things are in Scotland – one or two steps forward, accompanied by a couple of paces in the opposite direction. Yet, fundamentally, there is no reason why the well-rewarded professionals, employed by the SRU, should be any less capable of orchestrating tries than their Irish and Welsh counterparts and when a nation possesses individuals with the pace and quality of Thom Evans, Nikki Walker, Sean Lamont and Simon Danielli, it seems perverse that they should be pursuing a limited game plan, primarily based around avoiding defeat rather than taking the fight to the opposition.

After all, when Glasgow travelled to Biarritz in the Heineken Cup last season, and blitzed the French giants with a marvellous joie de vivre, en route to a significant win, they were demonstrating what can materialise when a team performs without fear. But, both before and after that heady afternoon, the buzzwords have been “stability” and “solidity”.

Well, perhaps it’s time to dispense with the safety-first approach and heed the lessons of 20 years ago when Scotland, very much against the odds, marched to a triumphant Grand Slam success in the old Five Nations, bolstered by the exertions of the Hastings brothers, Gary Armstrong, David Sole, Finlay Calder and John Jeffrey. In the build-up to the 2010 Championship, there might not be that amount of quality sprinkled through the ranks, but Robinson has towering characters at his disposal, whether in Chris Cusiter, Paterson and the Evans brothers, Max and Thom, or such indefatigable campaigners as Strokosch, Barclay, Al Kellock, Ross Ford, Nathan Hines and Euan Murray. They might not gain a Slam, but they should be capable of three victories in the competition.

And, in anybody’s language, that would constitute genuine progress, particularly allied to the sight of Glasgow at the summit of the Magners League. Nobody is pretending that everything in the garden is rosy. But nor should we overstay our welcome in the last-chance saloon. The Scots are on the up. Time for some glitter alongside the grit.