WITH Dan Parks, the Scotland fly-half, masterminding matters, claiming a personal haul of 24 points, Glasgow put last week’s disappointment of the final-kick defeat by Munster behind them hammering Ulster and claiming the four-try bonus point into the bargain.

The Irish had no answer to the Scots flair behind the scrum, and Parks was simply breathtaking. He has a reputation as a kicker but yesterday it was his twinkling toes and dazzling running that ruled the day, not just cutting through for two tries of his own but launching most of his team’s best attacking moments as he cut the Irish defence to ribbons.

It gives Glasgow exactly the start they would have wanted ahead of next Sunday’s Heineken Cup opener, but the game might have produced problems for Matt Williams. the Scotland coach, with Gordon Bulloch, the test hooker, being forced off the field with a muscle problem in the rib area.

True to the away form that has seen Ulster defeat Edinburgh and Connacht the Irish looked like opening this match with a bang, Bryn Cunningham, the full back, exploding onto a loose home kick and linking with Tommy Bowe, the wing, who in turn found support from Neil Best, the flanker. He reached the line but instead of celebrating the try was penalised for crawling over it.

Ulster looked sharper with the ball and did manage to take the lead with David Humpreys slotting over a simple penalty after Keiran Campbell, the scrum half, slipped through on his own to with only an ankle tap from Rory Kerr, the home full back, preventing him reaching the line. It forced the retreating Scots forwards to come in the wrong side of the ruck, however, and not only were they penalised but Jon Petrie, the home captain and No8, was sinbinned into the bargain.

Being a man down seemed to revive Glasgow who had their best spell of the opening quarter, earning their reward with Dan Parks, the fly half, selling an outrageous dummy and breaking clear on his own. When the cover did eventually catch him, Andy Craig, unusually featuring on the wing, was in support with Kevin Tkachuk, the Canadian international prop, wriggling over from the resulting ruck. Parks converted.

No sooner had they scored than they allowed Ulster to claim the kick off, and work the ball right to Campbell Feather, the flanker, who skipped through some sloppy home tackling with Tyrone Howe on his shoulder to take the scoring pass. Humphreys converted to restore the visitors’ lead to three points.

That is when Nigel Williams, the referee, decided to take a hand, first sinbinning Simon Best, the Ulster tighthead prop, for an offence on the blind side of a scrum, which put the Irish under pressure. When Sam Pinder, the home scrum half, charged down an attempted Humphreys clearance and Matt McCullough, was caught coming in the side to kill the ball, he joined his teammate in the bin.

Glasgow turned the screw with a series of scrums but it was Craig who again set up the decisive attack out wide, collecting the bouncing ball and this time Graeme Morrison burst onto a short pass from Parks to crash over for the line that gave the Scots a four point advantage at the break.

In truth, it was not at all a bad position for the Irish who were still in touch despite being down to 13 men and once they were restored to their full complement, they set about producing the forward momentum to change things around. Glasgow, on the other hand, were constantly bringing their wings into play and increased their lead with Parks hitting a 45 metre penalty after the Irish had caught collapsing a maul.

It was from a crooked throw from Nigel Brady, the hooker, that Glasgow were able to break out, turning the tables on the visitors. Craig was put away on he left, his grubber kicthat went across the back of the defence allowed Pinder to charge down an attempted clearance to win a scrum on the Ulster line. A back row move was stopped on the line but when the ball came back Parks’ dummy fooled the defence, diving with a flourish to clam the try which he converted himself.

Ulster squandered a couple of openings and the cost of that failure was made even more stark moments later when Howe was put away on the left only for Kenny Logan and Calvin Howarth to bundle him into touch, again a foot short.

When Glasgow did break the siege, they capitalised on it in fine style, moving the ball into the Irish 22 where Parks was again there to take the ball from the driving ruck, dummy and cut through on his own, sidestepping Paddy Wallace, the full back, and again diving with a flourish to finish the move. Thinking the game was won, Glasgow relaxed, allowing Tommy Bowe in for a fine individual try but that was the final flourish from a well-beaten Irish outfit and Parks sealed matters with a last penalty.