JON WELSH, the Glasgow Warriors prop, has sung the praises of Edinburgh's Alasdair Dickinson, his former rival for the Scotland loosehead slot, after the two players enjoyed a fierce tussle in the scrum during the first leg of the 1872 Cup at Scotstoun last Saturday.
Glasgow came out on top, winning 16-6 in front of their home crowd, but Welsh believes that Dickinson, who started all three of Scotland's autumn Tests last month, is in the form of his life and that his work in the set-piece, once seen as an area of weakness, is now a major strength.
"Ally is a great scrummager and he has improved massively over the years," said Welsh. "I think now he is settled at loosehead and is playing there a lot more consistently. He's a superb athlete.
"I get on with him quite well. He's one of those gym junkies, so he's in great shape. He may be a prop but his physical attributes are excellent. Scrummaging-wise he is like a rock."
Welsh, now 28, came to prominence as a loosehead, but moved to the other side of the scrum two seasons ago. However, he is still capable of doing a shift in his old position, as he did as a replacement against Scarlets last month. "I'll go back and play if I'm asked," he smiled. "I'd play at scrum-half if they asked me."
Fit again after a shoulder operation during the summer, Welsh has made only one start for Glasgow this season, with three appearances off the bench. However, he could be in line to add to that total in the return match against Edinburgh at Murrayfield on Friday if the head coach Gregor Townsend decides the time is right to rest Euan Murray.
If he is picked, Welsh expects another intense forward battle. "There's still training to be done this week, but we know where we need to do our work," he said. "You saw how physical and competitive the game was at the breakdown, that's a focus for us as it will be for Edinburgh. We'll be confident, but we know where we need to do our work. Edinburgh really came at us. We talked about how physical it was in the contact area, they were very good at slowing the ball down."
The Scottish Rugby Union has announced that Scotland's final RBS 6 Nations game, against Ireland at BT Murrayfield on March 21, is now a sell-out. Tickets went on general sale only two weeks ago, and this is the first time that all have been sold before the turn of the year.
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