A new United Rugby Championship campaign throws up some familiar questions for the Scottish sides.
Can Glasgow Warriors contend again? And can Edinburgh finally get their act together?
Warriors embarked on a thrilling run in both the URC and the Champions Cup last season before stumbling at the business end, losing the semi-final in the former to the Bulls and going down to Toulon in the European quarter-final.
Edinburgh’s campaign was a desperate disappointment. A stunning pool stage win over Toulon and an admirable display in a last-16 defeat by Leinster in the Champions Cup hinted at the potential strength of the side.
But their weaknesses were laid bare as they limped home in 12th place in the URC, missing out on the play-offs.
So what can we expect this time?
‘Glasgow are a well-oiled machine’
Following the departures of Tom Jordan, Sebastian Cancelliere and Henco Venter in the summer of 2025, many of us questioned Warriors’ ability to challenge.
Those fears were dispelled in extraordinary fashion as Glasgow romped through their Champions Cup pool with maximum points and finished top of the regular season URC standings.
It could be argued, however, that a lack of squad depth caught up with them just when it mattered most.
The injury to George Horne, for example, left them without a scrum-half of similar quality and experience to fill the void.
There was a sense of a golden opportunity missed as Glasgow passed up home routes to the final of both competitions, so is there a danger of carrying those scars into the new season?
Glasgow and Scotland lock Gregor Brown admitted: “It’s kind of the cruel part of sport. I don’t think boys are probably fully over it.
“I think that will actually only really come after the first couple of games when you can right a few wrongs in a Glasgow jersey.
“We didn’t come up with the goods at the end of the season. But if you go in all negative, thinking about what happened at the end, then it’s not going to do anybody good.”
With key figures such as Huw Jones, Adam Hastings, Jack Dempsey and Johnny Matthews all exiting Scotstoun in the summer, head coach Franco Smith is once again tasked with reshaping his squad.
Former Edinburgh captain Jamie Ritchie will add some much needed nous to the pack, but injury means he will not be seen in a Warriors jersey until November.
Smith will be relying on young talent coming through and hitting the ground running to keep his side competing at the top end.
However, former Scotland captain Andy Nicol told the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast: “I think they’re just such a well-oiled machine at all levels that it doesn’t matter who leaves.
“They seem to have got a pipeline coming through, which is how you should run a professional entity. And, you know, the contrast is very stark to what’s happening at the other end of the M8.
“I think Adam Hastings will be more of a loss, bizarrely, than Huw Jones, just because Jones didn’t play as much and you have Stafford McDowell and some of the young kids coming through Glasgow are quite excited about.
“Dan Lancaster – who’s the back up to him? I think that’s probably why I think Adam going to Montpellier might be a bigger loss to Glasgow. We’ll see how that plays out, because it’s such a pivotal position, isn’t it?
“But I’m pretty confident that Glasgow will be right in the mix and let’s hope they can go one, two steps further than they did last year.”
‘Got to cut out Edinburgh soft moments’
Another underwhelming season left Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt under pressure, from fans and media at least.
The Scottish Rugby hierarchy kept faith with the South African and chose instead to completely overhaul his coaching and backroom team.
This feels like Everitt’s last chance to get a tune out of this side, but his hopes of a fast start to set the tone for the season has been hampered by a brutal injury list.
Scotland wing Darcy Graham has been ruled out for 12 weeks with a ruptured bicep and he is only one of 17 first-team players unavailable for the start of the campaign.
“I worry about the team – it’s just not good enough,” Nicol said.
“There’s some good young forwards there and the back three is okay, but it’s that nine, 10, 12, 13. If I’m being brutally honest, it’s just nowhere near good enough.
“You look at all the top teams in any league, what do you need? You certainly need a nine and 10, but probably a nine,10, 12 and Edinburgh are lacking in that in a big way.
“So is there confidence, optimism? No, there’s not, because they’re just not got the raw materials there in the absolute key positions.”
Everitt will hope the additions of scrum-half Louis Chapman, fly-half James Grayson and brothers Kienan and Riley Higgins, both of whom can operate in the midfield, can address some of the gaps in the team.
“I’m confident that we’ll be better,” the head coach said. “I’ve also seen improvements in the friendlies that we’ve played.
“We played a mixed bag against Ulster and then two different teams in the 40 minutes against Harlequins.
“And, when we were good, we were really good and got on top of the opposition. We’ve got to cut out the Edinburgh soft moments and we’ll be good.
“We always want to be in the play-offs. I wouldn’t talk about the bare minimum. There’s a lot of other things that we’re doing at the club.
“But, yes, we want back to the play-offs.”
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