SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS

Jackson injury the only cloud as pro teams make sunny start



Published Date: 06 September 2009
By Iain Morrison
YOU have to hark back to 2002 to find the last time that both Edinburgh and Glasgow won their opening matches in the Magners League and, even then, it was only because the Welsh were still fielding club teams before they consolidated into regions. The most impressive aspect of Friday evening's double victory was that the Scottish teams both bettered one of the "big four", Glasgow seeing off the reigning league champions Munster while Edinburgh's young, talented and hungry team wo
Glasgow's 22-9 margin of victory looked far better than Edinburgh's one-point win on paper but one of Cardiff's tries was highly suspect and both Scottish teams left a heap of points on the table with a series of missed kicks.

Dan Parks justified his selection with five penalties but only after surviving a few uncomfortable moments including his first high ball which travelled backwards by at least 20 metres. Kelly Brown saved his immediate blushes and then Chris Cusiter proved his worth by making a try saving tackle on Lifeimi Mafi. The sight of the little scrum-half wrestling numerous Munster forwards to the ground was indicative of the warrior spirit he brings to Glasgow.

Even then Glasgow lost little when Mark McMillan took his place in the final quarter. The replacement scrum-half did well to convert the only try of the match from wide out, only to miss a penalty in front of the posts with the worst attempt at goal anyone present had ever witnessed… or ever will.

"I have never kicked at goal in my life but the ones that are in front of the posts are the most difficult," said McMillan with less than conviction. "No-one else wanted to take the kicks but, after missing the penalty, I got back to the dressing room only to find 22 people giving me advice on how to kick goals! Where were they all when I was looking for someone to take the kick?" It didn't matter on the night.

McMillan was only pressed into emergency service because Dan Parks had been replaced by Ruaridh Jackson and his evening was over after one minute. The youngster got on the end of a quite brilliant run by Graeme Morrison, whose fancy footwork should see him on Strictlly Come Dancing, but dislocated his shoulder in the act of scoring. He is likely to be out for months rather than weeks; another reason to hope that Parks finds his best form in the weeks ahead.

It was a mixed evening for Glasgow's other new signings. Rob Dewey found himself playing against an even bigger wing than himself in Munster's Denis Hurley. The Scot wasn't granted many opportunities to shine although you do wish he would run back kick offs at full tilt rather than slowing before taking contact.

In the midfield, Peter Murchie was playing in England's National One last season for London Welsh and he will take a few weeks to acclimatise to the new demands of the Magners League. He didn't do badly, and retrieved one of Park's many high balls, but he should become more effective once he's properly up to speed.

But the standout player on the day was a man who has already been at the club for one year. One seasoned commentator stated that the former GHA prop Jon Welsh had enjoyed the best debut of any Glasgow player he had ever witnessed. He was wrong, but only because it wasn't Welsh's debut.

Marcus Horan and man-mountain Tony Buckley are not renowned for the scrumming but they still bring a combined total of 79 Irish caps to the Munster front row. It mattered little as the pair of them were given the mother and father of all hurry ups by Welsh and Moray Low. Midway through the match I received a text from an Irish journalist. "That fellow Welsh eating Buckley. Weegies scrummaging them off the park." And that was how things looked from Dublin!

The entire Glasgow pack out-Munstered Munster. They chewed up their illustrious opposition and spat them out, driving them relentlessly in mauls and never letting their opposition build up a head of steam, but it was a performance built upon the front row domination and Welsh stood out head and shoulders in what was only his second start in the Magners League.

In the opening scrum Billy Holland, the Munster flanker behind Buckley, had to shuffle forward to protect his prop by making a four man front row. Things went downhill from there for the giant Irishman. The Glasgow front row had an obvious edge in just about every scrum, they turned Munster one way then the other, they won a penalty on the Irishmen's own line and the power coming through forced Munster's big men to stand up in countless scrums; the only alternative to full scale retreat.

"The competition in the squad is just amazing all the way from the front row to the wings," said Welsh explaining his meteoric rise. "A lot of the credit has to go to (scrum coach] Massimo Cuittitta. He says that scrumming is all about 'technique, technique, technique'. Massimo's a little bloke and he suffered ten years of pain while learning the ropes so now we don't have to!"

It is unlikely that Cuittitta suffered any humiliation to match what happened to Buckley at the hands of Glasgow's youngest prop on Friday night.

Highlights of the two pro-team matches will be shown on STV this evening at 5:30pm.

This article was originally posted on 6-Sep-2009, 07:14 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 6-Sep-2009, 07:15.