Glasgow coach Sean Lineen ecstatic to see Dan Parks take club form on to big stage

SEAN Lineen believes Scotland showed at the weekend they are on the road to unearthing a more dangerous game and is delighted to see Dan Parks at the centre of it.

No-one has spent more time with Parks than the Glasgow head coach since the stand-off arrived in Scotland in 2003, so few are better placed to comment on Parks' return to the international arena.

Lineen has been a great supporter of the player, an ally and a forceful critic, and, at the end of his tether last year with Parks' drink-driving offence, he made it clear the player had some serious improvements to make to remain a Glasgow pro never mind a Scotland contender.

He is, therefore, delighted to have witnessed Parks' response in 2009-10 and was ecstatic to see a lot of the work he has put in to helping the Australian improve his game pay off for the national side in the 31-24 defeat to Wales on Saturday.

"What we saw at the weekend was Dan playing for Scotland the way he has been playing for Glasgow most weeks," he said "and he proved he could do (it] at that level with all the extra pressure and intensity of an international away from home.

"There wasn't much that was different to what he does with us – the kicking for territory, the control of the game, the chip through for Max Evans' try – but the difference Scottish supporters who haven't watched Glasgow might have seen is that he is playing flatter now and the players around him are benefiting.

"It was fantastic to watch and I was just delighted for him. When Dan plays like that he is as good as anyone in the world. He was masterful and I'm so happy for him because I know what he's gone through.

"He's a nice kid who wants to please everyone and he's learned he can't. Some of the criticism has been justified, but some of what he got was very unsavoury and knowing the Scots as I do some people will still be waiting for him to slip up. But Andy (Robinson] and Gregor (Townsend] have shown belief in him, given Dan authority."

Like all players, Parks needs confidence to reach his optimum. It would be rewriting history to suggest that those who criticised the player, or who failed to select him, did so out of ignorance of his talents. He simply failed to transfer the talents he showed with Glasgow to the international stage with any consistency and so, at times, looked out of his depth.

But this season the quality of play around him has improved, for which he has been quick to offer thanks, and he has sharpened up some skills, notably in passing, defence and taking ball in a flatter position so allowing him and teammates more options in attack.

It was never confirmed, but Parks may have been lined up for a Cardiff return before the tournament kicked off – he spent a lot of time in the few weeks before the game deep in analysis of Wales' matches.

Lineen, a former Grand Slam-winning Scotland centre, added: "That (Saturday] was the best a Scottish team has played for a long time. The reason we lost were the injuries.

Being down to 13 men and with players out of position at the end was what killed it, not a lack of composure. It was bad luck, and an opponent that knew how to take advantage of a 13-man side.

"It can't take years, but months certainly, for players to understand a new framework that allows them to play to their strengths. It's coming and while we have three stand-offs (Parks, Godman and Jackson] who are different, that shouldn't change depending on who is at ten. Dan proved that on Saturday and Scottish rugby should be glad he's here right now."