Iain Morrison: Jackson has potential to kick the memory of Parks right into touch

Published on Saturday 4 September 2010 14:59

The Firhill groundsman must have been scratching his head yesterday morning when he went to inspect his patch of turf after Glasgow's opened their season with a 22-19 win over Leinster. He will still be wondering why it was that the rugby men only used one half of the field.

This was a bizarre match. Leinster dominated the opening 40 minutes and Glasgow did likewise after the break. The entire 3,000 odd crowd must have gone home with a crick in their neck as all the action took place left of the stand.

It was quickly apparent that this contest was between whippets and bulldogs with the men sporting Glasgow's blue shirts invariably lean and lithe in comparison with their Leinster counterparts. Richie Vernon whippet to Jamie Heaslip bulldog, Henry Prygos whippet to Isaac Boss bulldog, Moray Low ... well, even Stephen Hawking is struggling to come up with a single theory that covers the entire universe but the point remains valid. Glasgow forwards are lightweights and they struggled in the first half to compete with the power of what was, in effect, Leinster's back-up squad.

The first half was the stuff of nightmares. Glasgow gifted their opposition two tries and the second, which went to scrumhalf Isaac Boss, was pure comedy after several Glasgow backs completely lost their heads, attempting to hack the ball out of the dead ball area when all they had to do was fall on it as the Kiwi scrumhalf eventually proved.

Leinster were 16-6 up at half time but it should have been more, since they ripped the Glasgow defence wide open and two more tries were wiped off thanks to forward passes. Two years ago at Croke Park, Ireland utilised an absurdly simple back row move to score under the posts against Scotland. Leinster took the move off the shelf, dusted it down and made monkeys of the Glasgow back row on Friday. At this point, the Warriors' defence expect Gary Mercer must have nipped inside for a cold shower to prevent his head from exploding, it was that bad.

All of which just made what followed in the second half all the more surprising. Glasgow dominated possession, such that the visitors managed just three more points in the match and never seriously looked like adding to that total.

The home forwards rose to the physical challenge and, with Glasgow on the front foot, the referee started to penalise Leinster at the breakdown; not before time.

As Andy Robinson never tires of saying, nothing that happens on a rugby field is an accident and if an Irishman is on the wrong side of a ruck he is there for a reason.

The Welsh referee Tim Hayes gave Leinster the benefit of the doubt long after everyone else had lost patience.Eventually late in the second half, replacement hooker John Forgarty hadn't got his second wind before he was sent to the sidelines for cheating so blatant that the supporter next to me was well advised to follow Mercer into the cold showers.

It was a bewildering performance from Glasgow, brave but uneven and disjointed, although that is only to be expected when the average age of the forward pack is just 23 and the 21-year-old scrum-half is playing his ever first professional match inside a 22-year-old fly-half.

The match between Glasgow and Leinster was just one of the fascinating battles on display. The flyhalf showdown between Ruaridh Jackson and Duncan Weir looks like a hugely entertaining soap opera that will keep us glued for years to come. If the younger man stole Saturday's headlines - "Weir Wins Tight Game for Glasgow" - with his conversion drop goal and late penalty, still Jackson played with energy and composure for the first 65 minutes and more importantly he actually does what Dan Parks could never quite manage. Jackson looks up when he gets the ball and runs straight at the opposition, keeping them honest, before fizzing out his passes to the midfield runners.

Weir is more reliable in front of the posts, like Chris Paterson he misses on occasion but always looks slightly offended when it happens, but Jackson kicked the ball beautifully from hand.

One touch finder from inside his own 22 rolled across the sidelines 15 yards from the Leinster try line. Parks would have been proud!

I imagined before the season that Glasgow would feel the loss of the Scotland ten keenly but now I'm not so sure.

If Weir and Jackson can maintain Friday's decent standard of play, and that, to be fair, is far from certain, the Aussie's move to Cardiff may be a blessing in disguise.