TEAMS with designs on success of any kind in the Heineken Cup have decent strength in depth, and Sean Lineen's decision to leave out Dan Parks for their opening match with Newport Gwent Dragons will put that to the test for Glasgow.
It was less a decision, the coach remarked yesterday, and more a necessity because the stand-off is not rated as fit. But there was a question at yesterday's team announcement about whether Parks was being wrapped in cotton wool to please Frank Hadde
n, the Scotland coach, who is set to choose between the Glasgow player and the Edinburgh pivot, Phil Godman, for the No10 jersey against New Zealand in four weeks' time.
Lineen insisted that it was more about giving Parks the chance to be fit for next week's Heineken Cup match at home to Toulouse and the following week's Magners League clash against Leinster.
"Dan is still not 100 per cent," he said. "Hopefully, he will be ready for next week, but we can't take the risk and we are looking at the Scotland scenario as well.
"But the bottom line is that Dan is not right to play. If he could play for Glasgow he would, but his leg just isn't right and if he took a bang on it he would be out for three months which is not good for anyone.
"You have to make sure he is 100 per cent, especially in a position like that when he is involved a lot of the time and after an indifferent start to the season. He is close, but we're just making sure he is right."
Thus Glasgow head into a campaign with the skilful Colin Gregor at stand-off. Lineen's men enjoyed their best European run for some time last season, narrowly missing out on a quarter-final berth after close defeats in Agen and home and away to Saracens.
Against the Dragons in pouring rain at the start of the season, Parks was the most influential character on the field, kicking ball in behind the hosts and picking off penalty chances to seal a 12-6 win. Both teams have improved since then, the hosts having beaten Ulster, Edinburgh and Newcastle in the last three weeks, while Glasgow strive to maximise the line-breaking talent of Max Evans and Lome Fa'atau in particular.
Thom Evans misses out today because of a bad mouth cut which led to him being replaced in last week's Munster game, but, still with his innate desire to run the ball, Gregor will be keen to stretch the Dragons with some expansive rugby.
Lineen admitted: "This is a big game for him (Gregor], but he has been around for a while. I have seen him mature as a player and I saw him do some good things against Munster and his confidence grew.
"He missed a couple of kicks at goal, but one around half-time only just missed and it was from around half-way which shows he is striking the ball very well. The players are comfortable around him; he lets them breathe a lot more and brings the players outside him into the game really quickly. If the squad is going to grow you have to have strength in depth in every position."
Graeme Morrison will make his 100th appearance for the club today, one week before he celebrates his 26th birthday at Firhill when Toulouse arrive in Glasgow, and he said: "It's a massive honour to reach 100 games for Glasgow in what is my sixth season with the club."
Lineen is not looking beyond this afternoon and he disputes the theory that his side are under less pressure than Scottish rivals Edinburgh because they are kicking off away from home.
"There is pressure wherever you go; every game matters," he added. "Yes, you have to win your home games to stay competitive in your Heineken Cup group, but you have to win at least one away game to qualify for the quarter-finals. "From the confidence point of view we know how to win in Newport, but this is a different competition and the stakes are higher.
"I think it'll be a pretty brutal game. We know each other pretty well and managed to sneak a win the last time we were down when Dan had his kicking boots on in pretty atrocious conditions.
"It's up to the players to do it again in a Heineken Cup match, to show themselves and each other that they're hungry to make further progress."
Newport Gwent Dragons: P Dollman; G Wyatt, R Sidey, M Stcherbina, R Fussell; J Arlidge, W Evans; A Black, T Willis (capt), R Thomas, A Jones, L Charteris, J Bearman, L Evans, C Charvis. Subs: S Jones, A Coundley, G Webb, A Hall, R Lewis, S Connor, A Smith
Glasgow Warriors: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, M Evans, G Morrison, H O'Hare; C Gregor, M McMillan; J Va'a, D Hall, M Low, O Palepoi, A Kellock (capt), K Brown, J Beattie, J Barclay. Subs: E Kalman, K Tkachuk, T Barker, S Swindall, A Henderson, R Jackson, R Vernon.
Referee: R Poite (France)
The full article contains 872 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
