With the dust now settling on the greatest Six Nations championship of the modern era, every team will have various highs and lows on which to reflect.

Scotland started in disastrous fashion with defeat in Rome, before reeling off three straight wins against England, Wales and France.

Their bid to be crowned champions fell short against Ireland on the final day, but Gregor Townsend was confident his players will be better and stronger in the long run.

There was also some shock news on Monday that Scotland star Jack Dempsey is set to leave at the end of the season after agreeing a deal to play in Japan.

Here, former Scotland captain ANDY NICOL takes a look at some of the big questions facing Scotland and gives his view on Dempsey’s departure.

Ramos is hugged by Dupont after he won the Six Nations with last kick of the game for France against England

What did you make of the Ireland game and, more broadly, Scotland’s championship as a whole?

Andy Nicol: First of all, it was brilliant to see Scotland going into the final weekend still with a chance of winning the championship. I’ve been doing punditry and commentary work for the best part of 25 years and that’s the first time I’ve ever worked on a Scotland game on the final day where they had a chance of winning it.

In terms of the game itself, it was hugely frustrating. Ireland did what they always do. They have this rinse-and-repeat formula that just works so well against Scotland.

We have never been able to find a way round that. We actually played some terrific rugby at times on Saturday but Ireland always had us at arm’s length.

We just ran out of steam in those final 15 minutes after getting back to within five points. But there’s no doubt whatsoever that Scotland made huge progress over the course of the championship.

It was a massive step forward, especially after the defeat to Italy on the opening weekend. The first 20 minutes of that game were poor and cost us. But, other than that, it’s hard to fault Scotland too much across the other games.

The first 65 minutes against France was the best rugby I have seen any Scotland team play. Ever. It was a brilliant championship overall, the greatest Six Nations ever, with so many thrilling matches.

I’ll go out on a limb and say I don’t think any team will win a Grand Slam in the next five years because it’s just so unbelievably competitive.

Ireland were simply too good for Scotland as they won the Triple Crown last Saturday

How do you see the evolution of this Scotland squad at the moment? Now 18 months out from a World Cup, what sort of shape are we in?

AN: I think we are in good shape overall. In terms of the age profile, the quality and the experience of the squad, Scotland have been in a lovely sweet spot these past couple of years. I don’t see that changing heading towards the World Cup.

As long as we can keep our key players fit, we have every chance of having a good tournament.

We obviously rely a lot on Finn Russell, but that would apply to any team if he played for them. On his day, he’s probably the best fly-half in the world, so of course he’s going to play every minute of every game.

With the likes of Gregor Brown and Max Williamson breaking through, I think we have good depth now in the forwards.

I would like to see Jamie Dobie be given more of a run at scrum-half rather than on the wing. But that’s a tough one because I actually think Ben White was probably the most consistent scrum-half in this year’s Six Nations alongside Jamison Gibson-Park.

With several key players now the other side of 30, is it a concern that the pipeline still looks pretty dry? Our Under-20s struggled again this year in their own Six Nations. They haven’t won more than one match since 2020 and consistently finish in the bottom two.

AN: Yeah, there’s no getting away from this. It is a huge issue and I know it’s something that Gregor Townsend has spoken about in the past. There is a recognition that we need to be doing better in terms of bringing these young players through.

Victory over France was the best Scotland performance Andy Nicol has ever seen

I’ll be honest, I think the pathway system is broken. They should rip it up and start again. I feel for a lot of the boys in the Scotland 20s because most of them really haven’t played much professional rugby in comparison to the boys in the Irish, English and French systems in particular.

It’s not their fault. But we clearly are not bringing through enough players of our own. We are probably going to see a few Scotland players retire after the World Cup next year. Beyond that, the cupboard does look a bit bare in certain areas. That’s the concern.

What about the news Jack Dempsey is leaving Glasgow for a club in Japan? Do Scotland now need to plan for the World Cup without him? And could Franco Smith lose patience at losing another key player with Glasgow Warriors?

AN: There’s no sugar-coating it. Jack Dempsey will be a massive loss to Scotland and to Glasgow Warriors. He has been absolutely outstanding over these past few years after making the switch from Australia. But, ultimately, money talks.

Jack Dempsey’s departure for a club in Japan will be a massive loss for Scotland and Glasgow

He turns 32 next month. This is likely to be the last big contract of his career. If there was more money and an extra year in the contract offer from Japan, you can’t blame the guy for looking after himself. But it doesn’t look good to have a key player leaving the year before a World Cup.

I saw that Ireland this week announced new deals for several of their big names. Ideally, that’s the way it should work.

I hope Scottish Rugby and Glasgow did absolutely everything in their power to keep him. But there’s every chance Franco Smith could get fed up with it all.

Yeah, of course, there’s a budget. That’s part of the job at Glasgow and Edinburgh. But Smith has built Glasgow up to such a level that it’s a shame to see key players like Dempsey, Huw Jones and Adam Hastings all set to leave in the summer. That’s on the back of other big names leaving in the past couple of years as well.