Parks inspires Glasgow victory
DAVID FERGUSON AT HUGHENDEN

Glasgow 24
Munster 13

GLASGOW finally got off the mark in the Magners League this season by beating a second-string Munster last night. Scotland stand-off Dan Parks led the way with a personal tally of 19 points, ensuring Munster were beaten by the Scots side for the third time in a row.

The Warriors built up a good head of steam in the first half, competing well in the set-piece and maintaining a high tempo in their work both in attack and defence without ever dominating. It was enough to produce a 14-6 lead at the interval and when Parks added ten points himself soon after the restart, it was enough to give Glasgow and their hard-working skipper Alastair Kellock a long-awaited victory.

Parks settled the hosts with a penalty from Glasgow's first visit to the visitors' 22, but one wayward pass from scrum-half Graeme Beveridge and they were back 20 metres to the halfway and having to build again. When Andy Henderson dropped another, and the home scrum was penalised, Munster duly levelled, Jeremy Manning, the Munster fly-half, converting a 45-metre kick in the 13th minute.

Parks pushed Glasgow back in front with another, but Fergus Thomson, the home hooker, was spotted by Welsh referee Nigel Owens crossing in front of Munster runners at the restart and Manning swiftly responded in kind. Parks duly fluffed his own restart, falling short with his kick, but Munster's scrum was penalised and Parks then steered the hosts to an opening try.

Andy Henderson, the Scotland centre, broke the first line of red shirts and John Barclay, the openside flanker, took his pass and upped the momentum with a charge into the Munster 22. Support was swift, the ball was recycled well and Parks drove at the drifting defence before neatly chipping wide left to the corner for Glasgow's new speed merchant, Thom Evans, to somehow touch the ball down before flying out of play.

Again, however, with the good came the bad as Glasgow were penalised within minutes at a ruck and Colin Shaw was stretchered off with a leg injury.

Evans was a real livewire in Glasgow's attack and one of his counter-attacks, followed by a straight run by Thomson into the Munster 22, was enough to provoke an offside which Parks duly turned into three points. The stand-off couldn't convert a drop-goal chance, but the Warriors still led 14-6 at the break.

The Scots came out from half-time as they'd gone in, fired-up and keen to dominate territory, and Parks won the man-of-the-match award with ten points inside five minutes which wrapped it up.

The stand-off slotted another penalty and then intercepted a Manning pass before racing 70 metres to score, finding the supporting Evans unnecessary. He converted, and with a lead of 24-6 the message from the bench was clear - remember the lesson of the first game, where a 20-0 lead over the Dragons was thrown away in the final quarter.

Initially, there was no problem as the Warriors kept up the tempo and Evans was first held up over the line superbly by Anthony Horgan, and then held firm two metres short in midfield. The sight of Horgan and introduction of Alan Quinlan on the hour, both of whom were released from the Ireland squad this week, provided a reminder that this Munster side was missing at least 12 first-choice players, but the Irish spirit reared and they dominated the final quarter.

Glasgow lost Euan Murray, the prop, and then scrum-half Sam Pinder to the sin-bin, the latter only a minute after he'd replaced Beveridge, and despite a supreme defensive display, buoyed by a great Hughenden support, they finally cracked when Tomas O'Leary, the scrum-half, nipped over for a try, converted by Eoghan Hickey.

Scorers. Glasgow: Tries: Evans, Parks. Pens: Parks 4. Con: Parks. Munster: Try: O'Leary. Pens: Manning 2. Con: Hickey.

Glasgow: C Shaw; H O'Hare, S Marsden, A Henderson, T Evans; D Parks, G Beveridge; J Va'a, F Thomson, E Murray, A Newman, A Kellock, A Wilson, J Beattie, J Barclay. Subs: S Barrow for Shaw 26mins, K Tkachuk for Va'a, D Turner for Newman, both 64, S Pinder for Beveridge 68.

Munster: S Payne; I Dowling, J Kelly, J Downey, A Horgan; J Manning, T O'Leary; D Hurley, F Sheahan, F Pucciariello, M O'Driscoll, C Wyatt, J O'Sullivan, A Foley, T McGann. Subs: E Hickey for Payne 53mins, B O'Meara for Manning, A Quinlan for O'Sullivan, both 60.

Referee: N Owens (Wales).

This article was posted on 16-Sep-2006, 07:49 by Hugh Barrow.