GLASGOW'S PRO12 final win on Saturday was a long time in the making, and takes its place as one of the great moments in Scottish rugby history.

Indeed, since the national team won the last Five Nations Championship in 1999, it is the only time a Scottish side has won a tournament.

It is, then, a historic achievement by any measure: one towards which the Warriors have been building meticulously for several seasons. We would be wrong to underestimate the amount of planning and hard work that found its culmination in the 31-13 victory over Munster, and there is now no doubt that, in Gregor Townsend, Glasgow have a first-rate head coach who could go on to work at the very highest level.

In the immediate aftermath of victory, there has been a lot of talk about the impact the result will have on Scottish rugby as a whole. Certainly, the game in this country has underachieved over the past couple of decades, and Glasgow's win proves that our teams need not be doomed to be also-rans: gallant losers at best, hopelessly out of touch at worst.

Since losing the 2014 final to Leinster, Townsend's squad of players have grown significantly in stature, learning the lessons of that disappointment - above all, what it takes to hold your nerve and win on the big occasion. Success on such a stage is an experience that stays with a player throughout his career, making further success more plausible. Furthermore, the unshakable self-belief which comes from winning a trophy can rub off on those around a player - specifically in this case, on those Edinburgh and Scotland players who did not share directly in Glasgow's triumph, but will certainly take inspiration from it.

Yet, having said that, and without in any way seeking to diminish the impact of the weekend's win, we would be wrong to presume that further success will flow automatically from it, for either the Warriors themselves, their Edinburgh rivals or the Scotland team. Comparisons with Irish rugby are understandable, given what has happened since that country emerged from a long barren spell, but the conditions of the Scottish game at present and the Irish one of the late 1990s are far from identical.

Judging simply by the statistics, you could infer that, once Ulster got the ball rolling by winning the Heineken Cup in 1999, success followed as simply and surely as night follows day. Munster and Leinster have also won the premier European club tournament since then, and all three provinces have also been champions of the PRO12 in its various guises.

But Irish rugby was blessed with greater wealth in the last years of the previous century than we have now: wealth, that is, in terms both of finance and talent. The Scottish Rugby Union is in a far healthier state now than it was 20 years ago, and its academy system may in time produce a bumper crop of talent. But as things stand, and even allowing for the emergence of the likes of Finn Russell and Adam Ashe with Glasgow, we have nothing that can remotely compare with Ireland's golden generation.

Brian O'Driscoll, the outstanding member of that generation, may have retired, but his inspiring impact will be felt for some time to come. Irish rugby still feels good about itself, and as a result the sport in the republic enjoys far wider commercial and cultural appeal than it does in Scotland.

We should also recognise, of course, that the continuity from which Glasgow benefited is now at an end. Shade Munro, assistant coach for nine years, has gone. Al Kellock, a great captain both on and off the field, has now retired. Other key players have also moved on.

True, no-one is irreplaceable, and new signings such as Taqele Naiyaravoro may become stars every bit as big as the ones who have just left. Nonetheless, with so many players absent on Rugby World Cup duty for most of the autumn, next season's PRO12 season is extremely hard to predict. Glasgow may find that season to be a transitional one, and could face a stronger challenge from Edinburgh for a place in the upper reaches of the league. Vern Cotter's Scotland, meanwhile, have still to recover their confidence after a dismal Six Nations, and need to find some form in their four warm-up matches if they are to acquit themselves respectably at the World Cup.

In other words, Saturday's victory brings no guarantees. Just as one swallow does not make a summer, so one trophy does not warrant the expectant construction of a capacious new cabinet.

Having said all that, the exuberant manner of Glasgow's victory as much as the final score is a cause for real rejoicing. It is a success which can be built on - but cannily, and modestly, and with a constant awareness that we still have a long road to travel before we can expect afternoons such as Saturday to recur with any regularity.