BRIO and elan were sort of the Glasgow watchwords as they swept to the Pro12 title last season. This season, albeit with the World Cup as a not entirely welcomed diversion at the start of the campaign, they have stuttered somewhat.
In some ways this is a reaction to change. Niko Matawalu, who so-often provided the X-Factor in Glasgow performances has gone, as has Shade Munro, who had so much to do with the forward effort.
Great player though he is, Mike Blair is no Niko, while Henry Pyrgos, by his very absence, is showing how important he was last season. Add in the fact, new forwards coach Dan McFarland is still getting to know his first-pick pack, and it is no surprise that Glasgow are struggling.
Still, they again won ugly against Treviso, last night - a night when even the city centre pigeons in Glasgow largely walked. A win is a win is a win, but, once again, the penalty count against Glasgow was horrendous - this needs sorting out, fast.
EDINBURGH meanwhile, finally secured a bonus-point win, over a Dragons team who to my eyes, seemed to arrive at Murrayfield determined to lose by as few points as possible.
Scarlets apart, Welsh regional rugby is in a bit of a state just now and Dragons were, at times embarrassing. They copped four yellow cards, and might have had more, but, the fact we had an almost useless Italian referee in charge, in many ways played into Dragons' hands.
Last weekend, for the European games, 60 match officials were listed as either referees or assistant referees, not one was Scottish. Now, I have, in the past, been critical of Scottish referees, but, even I cannot believe that we do not have a single match official considered to be in the top 60 in Europe.
And, when I watched the mess that Italian made at Murrayfield last night, I was even more convinced - our referees are not that bad.
Mind you, while it has to be said, Alan Solomons has now got the Edinburgh pack firing on all eight cylinders, there is still something missing behind the capital side's scrum. Too often, all the good work of the pack last night was undone by poor passing and a lack of running power from the backs.
The Glasgow backs, behind that Edinburgh pack, would have had the bonus-point parcelled-up by half-time, of that I am sure.
GAME of the Day in the BT Premiership this afternoon looks like being the Mansfield Park clash of Hawick and champions Heriot's. A home win will confirm the growing belief that the Green Machine is beginning to rumble once more, it promises to be fascinating.
Gala seemed to shake-off a terrible run of results by beating Glasgow Hawks at Netherdale last week. This afternoon they head west to face Ayr at Millbrae.
Defeat at the Greenyards last weekend saw Ayr's lead at the top of the table halved to five points, so, they will be keen to re-establish themselves as a winning side. But, this is always a hard-fought match, which could go either way.
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