Dan Parks flourishing at Cardiff but tips Edinburgh to shine

Published on Monday 6 September 2010 20:07

DAN Parks was naturally delighted to start the new season with the same winning confidence he finished the last, but though his focus now lies with Cardiff he also believes he saw enough at the weekend to suggest that Edinburgh will be a force in the Magners League this season.

Parks scored 14 of his side's 34 points on his league debut for the Blues and had a hand in at least two of his side's tries, one particular effort highlighting his confidence as he drew two Edinburgh players to him with a break on halfway and off-loaded to Richie Rees, who drew the last defender and sent Bradley Davies in under the posts. It was move which had even the Welsh commentators drooling. Unsurprisingly, the fly-half was voted man of the match.

Dai Young took Parks to the Welsh capital to bring some direction to the Blues' rugby, and he showed how he can do that with his kicking forcing Edinburgh into familiar trundles back towards their own line. Parks, who finished last season with a string of man-of-the-match awards for Glasgow and Scotland, admitted he had been nervous beforehand, but a game veering nicely towards a Super 14 match in style, on a weekend when Treviso marked their entry to the competition with victory over the Scarlets and Connacht stuffed the Dragons, seemed to ease Welsh spirits.

"Yeah, the nerves were there," he said, "but it was more excitement at the first time playing for Cardiff in the Magners League. It was good to get five points, and personally I was pleased with how it went. We had good weather and both teams wanted to run and play rugby, so it was an enjoyable game. The last try we scored was one of the best I've been involved in, from Edinburgh attacking and us trying to keep them out to going up the other end with so many hands on the ball and finishing off.

"But I also thought Edinburgh played very well, attacked well and found space - they will be strong again this season. They moved the ball well, Mike (Blair] was dangerous around the fringes and so was Greig (Laidlaw] when he came on.

"Their wingers are very good. The new guy (Lee] Jones is a good runner with the ball and we knew that Tim Visser was a handful. And they have added a powerhouse with the No 8 (Netani Talei]. We have them a few times this season, so it will be interesting to see how we both develop."

Parks might be calling on some old friends at Glasgow this week for some extra information as Cardiff prepare to fly to Dublin to meet Leinster, smarting from an opening night loss at Firhill.

Glasgow for their part are hopeful that Colin Gregor might be fit enough to return to the squad with a trip to Newport-Gwent Dragons to come on Sunday. Scrum-half Henry Pyrgos has been a stand-out for Glasgow so far, but there are no other fit scrum-halves.With Chris Cusiter out until December and loan signing Will Cliff now back at Sale, Gregor's return to training yesterday after a knee operation is well timed.

Edinburgh flankers Alan MacDonald and Roddy Grant suffered knocks on Saturday but are expected to be fit for Friday's home match with Munster.