IF Mark Bennett, the Scotland centre, does decide to take up a deal to play in Edinburgh, he will be part of the latest trend in Scottish rugby. Players in danger of finding themselves sidelined in Glasgow are heading to the nation's capital and a near-guaranteed starting spot.
The depth of resources at Glasgow Warriors means there are few players who get to pick and choose their games.
Though Bennett had come back to restore his club partnership with Alex Dunbar this season, he has been anything but an automatic selection. True, they have partnered each other seven times this season, but Dunbar has played almost as many games – six – with Sam Johnson as his partner.
The trail from west to east is a comparatively new one. Take away the season after the Borders was axed and the likes of Kelly Brown shifted base from Galashiels to Glasgow, and the direction of travel had been almost entirely east to west until last season.
The most significant transfer was undoubtedly when Alastair Kellock, the lock, was brought back to his home city to captain Glasgow. Under the guidance of Sean Lineen, he helped transform them from a bunch of losers to the side that won the Guinness PRO12 in his final season.
He was joined in the trek west by the likes of Ryan Grant and Dougie Hall, whose careers had been stagnating in Edinburgh but took off after the move. More recently the trend has continued with the likes of Alex Allan, the prop, and Lee Jones, the wing, making the switch.
All that changed last season when it finally occurred to the guys in charge that if you have two players vying for the one international spot it is daft to have one of them playing second fiddle to the other at the same club.
It is standard practice across the world where unions have control of the professional game. Examples include Ireland last season, when Robbie Henshaw was told his apprenticeship at Connacht had ended and he was to move to Leinster. In New Zealand Aaron Cruden was shifted to fill a gap at the Chiefs and make way for Beauden Barrett at the Hurricanes.
So last season, the Scots took a leaf out of the same playbook and decided that Duncan Weir was to end his time as understudy to Finn Russell at Glasgow and get regular games with Edinburgh, which paid off when he was recalled to international bench duty last weekend.
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