A horse, a horse......

Richard of Gloucester - who to some in the rugby fraternity was as popular as those who frequent the Shed at Kingsholm - was well and truly rucked and mauled by a Welsh flanker in 1485 but this time around it was two other Richards who emerged triumphant. Only, they were for the House of Glasgow who enjoyed a thumping 33-11 victory.

The Richies of Vernon and Gray have long been touted as "ones for the future" - a label which 90 per cent of the time is the kiss of death for any young prospect.

Showered with praise at first, most young bucks slip into the annoying habit of stopping to admire the view before they go plummeting back to whence they came.

This pair are different though and let's be very clear about this. Richie Vernon and Richie Gray have 10 years of world class rugby ahead of them if they want it.

It was only 12 months ago when both were farmed out to the club scene at John Beattie's West of Scotland side. Under the former Scotland star and Lions cap, both flourished and confirmed to Warriors boss Sean Lineen what he suspected - these guys were the real deal.

Vernon has stolen a wee march on Gray by breaking into the Scotland team in the recent Autumn tests but don't be surprised to see the latter join him come the Six Nations.

They showed against Gloucester that they are not scared of what's in front of them and will happily go toe-to-toe with their opposites and even overpower them.

Vernon in particular, like Asterix and Obelix, doesn't seem to know the meaning of fear.

How many times did he pick up and drive back a gang of Gloucester forwards? Too numerous to mention. Vernon didn't let up and the men from Castle Grim couldn't do a damn thing to stop him.

We shouldn't be too surprised at his attitude. He freely confessed a few months back that when holidaying in Pamplona, the fact that he had a new season to prepare for saw him choose reluctantly to watch his pals run with the bulls from his hotel balcony when he desired to be with them in that world-famous dash of lunatics.

As for Gray, how well would he do without the guidance of the injured Warriors skipper Al Kellock? It is fair to say he came of age against Gloucester.

Superb in the loose and excellent in the line-out, both Glasgow and Scotland have another figure who can scare opposing locks to death in the set-piece.

Honourable mentions must also go to Jon Welsh, who made light work of an All-Black, John Barclay and Kelly Brown for giving Vernon the back-up required to wreak even more havoc, Max Evans for scoring a try out of nothing (an early contender for try of the season?) and Dan Parks who bounced back superbly after two horror clearances to kick seven penalties and a conversion. The Dan of old might well have buckled but he's made of sterner stuff this season.

But the night belonged to Vernon and Gray. While back in the 15th century Richard of Gloucester was screaming for a horse, last night, the Richards of Glasgow were turning one into glue.