In the 20 years since rugby turned professional, there has been a growing sense of realisation that Scotland has fallen light years behind the game’s leading nations.

Today marks two decades since the last remnants of amateurism were removed from the game, and while the sport has grown enormously in that time, Scotland has found it tough to punch above its weight the way it used to in the amateur era.

Attempts to shape the game in this country have encountered difficulty: how to manage the professional teams (not least how many there should be), how to produce new talent and how to build a national team able to mount even a decent Six Nations challenge, far less compete on the world stage.

Some recent signs have pointed to an encouraging change in fortunes, however. Glasgow Warriors' victory in the PRO12 final last season was just reward for several seasons of sustained excellence under the hugely-impressive Gregor Townsend.

Edinburgh’s run to the European Challenge Cup final brought hope that they can break free of their inconsistencies and join Glasgow nearer the apex of the league table.

The Scottish Rugby Union’s four new academies spread around the country are designed to smooth the path for promising teenagers to advance through the ranks to make their mark at club and international level.

SRU chief executive Mark Dodson said recently that “this is the fourth time we’ve had a go at professionalism and the first three we got wrong”, but Chris Paterson believes this time is different.

“I think we’re on the right track,” Paterson said. “Glasgow’s success has underlined that. Edinburgh were really combative last year and I think they’ll be even better this year. The drive is to be consistent, and what we have in the set-up with Edinburgh and Glasgow, the younger players and the academies now taking shape is hopefully now a platform to make more players better and more consistent to allow us to succeed.”

The conundrum remains how to get the national team to rise above the monotony of the annual wooden-spoon battle with Italy and seriously threaten the Six Nations big guns. Paterson believes Scotland can and will improve, but feels there needs to be an acceptance of our standing in international rugby.

“It’s a different game isn’t it? It’s probably come further in the last maybe 10 or 12 [years] than it did in the first 8 or 9 [after professionalism]. It’s always changing, it’s always progressing.

“The international game is hard and I think historically since records began our win rate is about 40 per cent and that’s maybe where we are. Fifteen on 15 we can beat anyone on our day, we really can. Sometimes we win games we’re not expected to, sometimes we lose games we’re expected to win.

“The pressure, the scrutiny, the expectation, the exposure of the game has grown year on year.”