Edinburgh and the Borders currently prop up the Celtic League after failing to secure a win in their opening three matches, while Glasgow's only two triumphs in their four outings have come against their Scottish rivals.

It makes for dismal reading for Williams, who is trying to build on an improved showing by his young side on their tour to Australia this summer.

However, the Australian coach, speaking after putting his national squad through their paces at Murrayfield, is refusing to get too despondent.

He said: "I'm not overly concerned by it. Obviously it's very important that the pro teams win - we all want Edinburgh to win - but there's plenty of time to go.

"I'm particularly happy with what's happening here. We've had very, very good sessions. Generally the standard here has been markedly up again on Australia, which is what we were after, and I'm seeing good progress, so I'm delighted with the national sessions.

"We, as coaches, can see the difference since Australia. Obviously we haven't seen it in international matches yet but, as coaches, we're happy with what we're seeing in training.''

Williams was without 19 players for Monday's workout, with second-row forward Iain Fullerton causing most concern of those who missed out because of an ankle injury which, along with skipper and fellow lock Scott Murray, looks like keeping him out of action long-term.

But the get-together gave Williams the chance to brush up on his sides' skill levels, which he believes need constant attention.

He added: "If you want to play the symphony you have to practice the scales. It's just about doing it time and time again.

"You've got to go back to your basic skills every week. Last week we didn't pass well and we went through our training notes and we hadn't practised our lateral passing for four weeks. So we had to do lateral passing again.

"You've got to constantly keep on top of those basic skills. We're obviously doing them because you want to see them in Test matches, under real pressure. We're hopeful that will be the case.''