Dan Parks will no doubt be feeling pretty gutted that his last major contribution to his country and last significant appearance in a Scotland shirt was marred by one of his kicks being charged down and then converted into a winning try by England at Murrayfield, but the player will still be considered a massive legend by those north of the border.
Holding an admirable Scottish record of 17 dropped goals since starting his international career, Parks has decided to set aside his bid for continued personal glory, doing the decent thing by handing youth a chance in a Betfair Six Nations 2012 tournament in which Scotland will be looking to secure anything but the dreaded wooden spoon.
Having said that, Parks has come in for some criticism by opting to retire so close to the next match for Scotland in the Six Nations, with incoming players perhaps not granted quite enough time to prepare adequately for the step up. Anyone following the Betfair latest rugby betting odds needs to bear this in mind.
With everyone all too aware that playing the key fly-half position for a Scotland side in need of a decent performance against a Wales team looking to pile on more pain on Scottish shoulders is a tough ask for any player, the one question that Parks may now have to answer is why he didn’t make his decision before the Six Nations began.
That would certainly have allowed Andy Robinson the opportunity to spend more time thinking about how best to replace the veteran but at least now Scotland have the chance to prove that their youthful players are able to adapt well to difficult circumstances on the biggest stage of them all.
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