DAN PARKS watched a Test match as a former international player for the first time and remains convinced that Scotland's future is much brighter than their recent run of form suggests.
The Cardiff Blues stand-off, in the Welsh capital as a TV pundit rather than a player on Sunday just days after announcing his retirement from Test rugby, admitted that he and his team-mates did not deserve to win his final match against England. "When you score just six points, you don't deserve to win a Test match," he acknowledged.
Scotland's inability to score the points their play has deserved has frequently been an issue during Parks' 67-cap career, during which there was also too little competition for his position as the team's play-maker.
That was a significant factor in the way criticism was often unfairly heaped on the Australian-born stand-off but, for all he acknowledged that it had been tough to deal with at times, he made it clear he did not feel he was forced out, preferring to focus on the support he has had from the Scottish rugby public.
"It is funny; I have played for Scotland 67 times and probably half of those I have been given a hard time," he said. "For me, it was never a case of running out [on Scotland]. You try not to read press but you are aware of what is going on. I love Scotland and have always loved playing for the country. That is something I have cherished my whole career, which is why it [last week] was such a emotional time.
"Ninety-eight per cent of the fans have been fantastic, which is great and something I am very grateful for. I have said many times that I have enjoyed myself over here playing for Scotland over so many years. It has been a tremendous honour. The reaction since the announcement has been overwhelming."
Looking ahead, he believes he has seen enough to be confident that things are changing on both counts. "The future for Scotland [number] 10s is very bright and the future for Scotland is bright," he said. "Jacko [Ruaridh Jackson] is an excellent open-field runner and he has great skills and his kicking game has come on leaps and bounds.
"Greig [Laidlaw] brings something slightly different. Judging on his showing against Wales, he can be very crafty. He can score points which is vital. And Duncan [Weir] is similar to myself. He has a great kicking game and also accumulates points. It was a shame he did not get on [against Wales]. Looking ahead for Scotland, we also saw the likes of Ross Rennie and Richie Gray and the impact they had against Wales, and Stuart Hogg, [with] the way he can move, his speed; it is very exciting for Scottish rugby."
A change in emphasis seems inevitable. though. For all that Parks was only the third member of this season's World Cup squad to retire from Test rugby, his departure, allied to that of Chris Paterson, means Scotland are now without the weapons that have produced the vast majority of their points and wins in the past few years.
What is telling is that, while Paterson is third on Scotland's all-time try-scoring list and Parks was, for a long time, Glasgow's leading try-scorer in the Magners League, neither had crossed the opposition try line in a Test match since the previous World Cup four years ago.
At that, Paterson's last Test try was against Romania and Parks' against Portugal, while the team that took the field against Wales on Sunday had amassed no more than 25 tries among them in 420 Test appearances.
That explains why there has been such reliance on Paterson and Parks, scorers of 1075 Test points between them for Scotland. Their goal-kicking, along with defensive efforts that kept Australia to eight points, South Africa to 17, Ireland to 20 and Argentina to 16 and nine points enabled the team to grind out the best wins of Andy Robinson's time in charge.
In those five wins against higher-ranked opponents, Scotland have scored two tries to their opponents' six which is why it seemed so cruel when it emerged at the weekend that Graham Steadman, the defence coach, was being sacked.
Scotland have, though, slipped down the world rankings, and only narrowly avoided dropping to an all-time low of 12th because England came from behind to deny Italy a victory that would have taken them ahead of the Scots.
It has, then, become ever more clear that Robinson must belatedly assemble his own management team after three seasons of working with that which he had inherited when appointed head coach in 2009, a process which began last month with attack specialist Scott Johnson's appointment as senior assistant coach.
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