Same again for the rest of the season, please

This blog will follow and comment on the exploits of my 3 favourite rugby teams; Melrose, Glasgow Warriors, and Scotland, over the 2009/10 season. It will tell Craig Chalmers, Sean Lineen and Andy Robinson who they should and should not be selecting and why. It will mix dispassionate analysis with one-eyed prejudice. It will regularly veer off into commentary on other sports and other parts of my life. It will create hostages to fortune, it will contradict itself regularly, and it will be wildly inconsistent. In short, it will be pretty much like me in the pub before and after every game.

And if the results are anything like this weekend's, the blog will be uncharacteristically upbeat! Glasgow knocked off the Magners League champions, Melrose maintained their unbeaten start, and a few other Scottish players and coaches got their seasons off to good starts.

I was at the Warriors game with Alan, Viv and Neil to see Glasgow's win, notable for Chris Cusiter proving himself far tougher than his Greek God hairstyle would suggest, Dan Parks recovering from kicking his first garryowen 20 yards backwards to play a typically solid game, and Graeme Morrison finally learning to sidestep. More significantly, our new prop Jon Welsh looks a find and the forwards bossed Munster around at the crucial times. A few signs of early season rust, and as everyone's been saying, it was a good time to get Munster with none of their Lions, but they still had the likes of Horan, Leamy, and various Southern hemisphere backs who would all play for Scotland if we could find Scottish grannies for them, so a fine effort.

Re Melrose, all I know is what's been in the papers, but sounds like they've found the knack of squeezing victories out of tight games, always a good sign. Also pleased to see good wins for Bryan Redpath's Gloucester (featuring 4 Scottish players, almost the only ones left in the English premiership after post-season moves and retirements) and Rob Moffat's Edinburgh in Wales.

But back to Glasgow for a final word. And the word is 'Oops'. In the light of his recent drink driving conviction, Parks' decision during the lap of honour to wave at a mate in the crowd and toss back an imaginary pint (presumably shorthand for 'let's get pished later') was a tad unfortunate...