TO be fair, Gerald Davies, the great wing who is now chairman of the Guinness PRO12 committee, did admit he was being a touch pretentious when he turned to Shakespeare to help launch the season. He was making a good point though, and it applies to Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh more than the rest of the teams in the tournament.

Quoting from Julius Caesar at the official tournament launch, he observed: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” He was suggesting that with extra interest in rugby thanks to the World Cup and the excitement generated by last season’s tournament, this could be a breakthrough year for the PRO12 as a whole as it rides the tide of public interest.

For different reasons, the tide is also flooding for the two Scottish clubs. Glasgow Warriors need to show last season’s triumph was the platform for sustained success in both the PRO12 and Europe, Edinburgh must turn hope and promises into actual real-world results. All this despite opening the campaign without their leading international players, who will be at the World Cup for the opening five or six rounds of games.

It is, admits Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow Warriors head coach, a tough task for him and the remaining players. After the Scotland squad was pruned last week, he still has 19 players involved with the national side and probably won’t get more than two or three back after Tuesday’s final cut. Add Leone Nakarawa, Fiji; Sila Puafisi, Tonga; and Greg Peterson, USA, to the list of World Cup players and he has a huge hole in the playing squad.

“Those games at the start are just as important as round 21 and round 22,” he said. “We believe that so far we are in really good shape. We have a big squad. Last year we used 52 players and this time it is likely we will use at least the same number, maybe more. I am delighted with the quality we have.

“The training sessions have been competitive. We have been delighted with some of the guys who have come through, it is their opportunity to go out and grab.”

They open on Saturday against the Scarlets, who will be missing only a handful of players to the Wales squad plus, maybe, John Barclay to Scotland, and that is going to give Townsend a good indication of whether or not the teenagers, the academy players and the club players he has drafted in can cope. After all, as Stuart Hogg pointed out last week, the same period four years ago gave him the chance to break through.

Over at Edinburgh, realistic ambitions are lower even though they will supply only eight or nine of the Scotland squad. Alan Solomons, the head coach, says top six is “non-negotiable” and behind the scenes they are talking about top four.

Captain Mike Coman said: “You always want to be aiming to win the thing – you don’t go into competitions not aiming to win – but for us at this point, top six is a good goal and as we hit certain stages, we will re-evaluate.

“We can push for top four, but it really is a case of the old cliche, one game at a time, and what really matters for us is that we keep improving, lifting it every week.”

They open at home – well at Meggetland, which is not strictly speaking their home ground, but is in the city – to Leinster, who will supply a good chunk of the Ireland squad, and could be there for the taking.

It all promises to be a topsy-turvy opening couple of weeks and who knows what Shakespeare would have had to say about that.