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Ex-captain John Barclay calls it quits with Scotland
By Online Editors
Former Scotland captain John Barclay has announced his retirement from international rugby. The 33-year-old flanker won 76 caps for his country during a twelve-year Test career that included the recent World Cup in Japan. Barclay, who played in three World Cups, made his Scotland debut during the 2007 tournament.
“All good things must come to an end. After much thought I have decided the time is right to step down from the international game,” Barclay said on his Instagram account. “This isn’t an easy decision to make.
“Playing for Scotland is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication and undoubtedly one of the best things I will achieve in my life. But for me and my family, it feels like the right time. It has truly been a privilege to wear the jersey.
“Not many people can say they got to live their boyhood dream, but I was lucky enough to have that honour, and it is something I am unbelievably proud of. To my family and friends for supporting me all over the world, a big thank you.
“Most importantly though, thank you to my wife for her support looking after our growing family when I have been away and for dealing with the inevitable ups and downs associated with playing international rugby.
"Not the end of my rugby journey, but the end of one chapter. Thanks for the memories.”
Barclay made more than 250 appearances for Glasgow and the Scarlets before joining Edinburgh in 2018. His final Test match appearance came in a World Cup pool victory over Russia two months ago.
- Press Association
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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