Six Nations 2014: Duncan Weir charged with filling Scotland's fly-half void against Ireland in Dublin But the fact that the two main contenders play for the same club is as clear a sign of underlying weakness as the lack of talent coming through. To make matters worse, most of the players who have been trumpeted as the answer to Scotland's playmaking prayers have turned out to have the staying power of X Factor winners. Dan Parks put in a lengthy shift - he stood down in 2012 after 67 Tests - but it was always easier to admire his doggedness than any natural brilliance. But at least Parks was (and still is, with Connacht) a genuine 10. It is a measure of how bare Scotland's cupboard has become that so many players in other positions have been touted as candidate for conversion to fly-half. The suggestion was made repeatedly to the long-serving scrum-half Mike Blair, who always dismissed it out of hand. Greig Laidlaw made that very switch, but soon moved back again. This weekend, two others could find themselves in the same makeover programme. Greig Tonks, who spent all of last season at fullback for Edinburgh, was moved to fly-half as injury cover recently, performed steadily enough for the club, and will wear the 10 jersey for Scotland A against England Saxons at Scotstoun on Friday night. And in the Six Nations match in Dublin, where Scotland will have no specialist fly-half on their bench, it is possible that Stuart Hogg will also make the move up from fullback to take over from Weir at some stage of the game. Bath's Tom Heathcote, Scottish qualified only because his RAF father was based near Inverness when he was born, was fast-tracked into the international set-up in November 2012, but his star has faded as he has struggled to get game time behind George Ford at his club and his star has faded. However, the most embarrassing turn of events concerned Tommaso Allan, the former Scotland Under-20 fly-half who decided to throw in his lot with Italy instead. Chalmers, who now coaches Esher and whose son Ben will be at fly-half for Scotland Under-20s against their Ireland counterparts in Athlone tonight, believes Weir and Jackson are still the best options for the Test side, but that they should be playing for different clubs. "I can understand why Gregor [Townsend, now Glasgow coach] would want to have them both, but you really need to be playing regularly in that position, " said Chalmers. I used to feel that I needed a run of four or five games to get up to speed, but there is so much chopping and changing that neither has been able to do that. You have to feel you own the jersey, and I don't think any player has done that for a long time.