Prior to the recent 23-17 defeat to France at Murrayfield, only one try had been scored in Scotland’s previous five outings by Greig Laidlaw, who has impressed since taking over the fly-half reigns despite being a scrum-half by trade where Chris Cusiter and Mike Blair have been sharing duties

Chalmers believes Duncan Weir, Glasgow Warriors’ 21-year-old, is the long-term answer at No.10 but fears constant tweaking is preventing lively youngsters Stuart Hogg and Lee Jones, both of whom scored tries against France, from getting their hands on the ball.

And Chalmers, who won 60 caps for Scotland between 1989-99 and played a key role in the 1990 Grand Slam, is not convinced Robinson has found a centre pairing to boast about either.

“I think there’s been a lot of chopping and changing because the coaches haven’t been able to find the right balance yet,” said Chalmers.

“Scotland haven’t asked enough questions of other backlines, our team shape is quite good but we are over-complicating things every time.

“We need to keep it simple, if you are going with certain players, you need to play to their strengths.

“But we were better against France. With [Stuart] Hogg at the back and Lee Jones it was a bit inexperienced but they looked sharp.

“I think, if we have got a dangerous back three we need to get the ball to them.

“At international level it’s necessary to have two guys capable of passing accurately off either hand.

“Playing [Graeme] Morrison at inside centre is a little bit of a step backwards and I have never been a fan of Sean Lamont there.

“Ten is also an issue and I think long-term Duncan Weir is more the answer.

“Greig Laidlaw has done really well moving out from nine but it’s not his natural position.”

Failure to take their chances ensures Scotland are without a point from their first three RBS 6 Nations matches and will look to open their account against an Ireland side, buoyed by victory over Italy and last weekend’s draw with France, on Saturday.

And Chalmers who ended on the winning side on all nine occasions he faced Ireland – including three in Dublin – believes the key to victory on Saturday is simple.

“Take your chances and don’t give them too many,” he said. Ireland are a good side, if they start well they will be hard to contain.

“They will try and play but if you stop them and pick up on one or two of their errors we have got a great chance.

“But Scotland won there two years ago and they’ll know they can do it this year. Scotland won’t just be happy to beat Italy, they will want to win both games.

“In the games I played at Lansdowne Road, we just seemed to grind out results and if they win they won’t seem to care how it comes. Dublin is a great place to celebrate a victory and hopefully the guys will be doing just that come Saturday night.”