BACKS TO THE FUTURE
SIX NATIONS CRUNCH Skipper Barclay reckons Russell, Hogg and Co can help light up Scots for many years to come
TO the naked eye John Barclay’s take on Scotland’s Six Nations showdown against England came across as blase.
But only a fool would buy the dark blue skipper’s attempt to play down Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash and the enormity of what a first win at Twickenham since 1983 would bring.
The 30-year-old Scarlets flanker opted to heap the pressure on Eddie Jones and his players, their 17-game winning streak and the world recordequalling run which is at stake.
It was brave effort from a captain ahead of the Triple Crown decider with the championship still up for grabs but his final words of yesterday’s media outing at Edinburgh’s Oriam all but gave the game away.
Despite all his attempts to play down Scotland’s chances Barclay admitted his team “players” are more than capable of stealing the show. The X-Factor he calls it.
He said: “Putting expectation on ourselves doesn’t actually achieve anything. But if we play well we can beat teams.
“We have the backs now who are scoring good tries – people like Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Tim Visser. Alex Dunbar is so reliable, Finn Russell and others, these guys have something about them.
“They are exciting guys to play with but a lot of hard work goes into allowing them to have that X-Factor.”
Barclay is adamant the Scots squad won’t buy into the hype surrounding the Twickenham clash and will concentrate only on trying to control the controllables.
He said: “Playing England down there, the Calcutta Cup and their run are all things that happen externally.
“Expectations are there but we don’t put any undue pressure on ourselves. We kind of feel like the expectations are more on England. They’ve gone how many games unbeaten? We’ve only won two games this Six Nations.
“We feel there’s not much pressure on us. We are playing some good stuff which is maybe externally building a little bit of pressure. But within the group we’re not getting carried away.
“Within the group we’ve just looked at England and how best we can prepare for the game.
“Don’t get me wrong – it’s fantastic walking around with people being positive and saying nice things but I know how fast these things can change.
“We’ve won two games out of three whereas England have won 17 in a row. The expectation is one thing but if you’ve won 17 games in a row you’ve probably done more. Although it’s fantastic we’re in the position where we’ve won a couple of games.” A victory for Vern Cotter’s side would secure a first Triple Crown since 1990 and there was little chance of the on-field leader giving the game plan away by refusing to do an Italy who bamboozled England two weeks ago by refusing to engage at the ruck.
Five second-half tries averted a disaster against the Azzurri who led at the break and Barclay admits Scotland may have a few curve balls of their own to throw at their hosts.
He said: “You can’t make any promises can you? What Italy did was a pretty one-off situation and it doesn’t make for a fantastic spectacle but it’s not something we have looked at too much this week.
“It has been used more as a shock tactic in the past, a one-off. The fact Italy went on to use it for a full 80 minutes is fairly unique. It worked for the first half I guess but clearly England had a chat and went on to put a few tries on the board.”
The juggernaut that England have become under Jones may present the ultimate challenge but again Barclay preferred to talk up a team more than worthy of recent praise.
He said: “England perform well at home, they win lots of games and that underlines the challenge facing us.
“They’ve quality throughout and certain individuals you’d concentrate more on analysis. They have big ball carriers who are good over the ball and give them good forward ball.
“They have fantastic players like Maro Itoje. You can see that with what he has done with Saracens and England. We want to pick up on his traits to put the player apart so we can deal with him best at the weekend. Look across different nations and seasons, some teams go with bigger back rows and Wales went with two opensides.
“Itoje can steal ball at the breakdown. It depends on the profile and skills of the players.”
Wins over Ireland and Wales have raised expectations this could well be a Six Nations campaign unlike any other.
An attacking verve has been the trademark in recent wins but Barclay is adamant artistic impression isn’t a factor when it boils down to a rugby game where he’ll gladly take a win over performance.
He said: “Vern told us today, ‘This isn’t ice skating. You don’t get style points for it’. That is about as close to a joke as you get with Vern!
“But he’s right. You want to win these games and there are many ways to do that.”
Scotland’s chances of a rare success in London could well hinge on whether they can retain their impressive form at the breakdown and Barclay insists the feeling of leading the side into battle comes a distant second to one of triumph.
He said: “The honour of playing for Scotland is huge for me anyway and don’t get me wrong the pride is even bigger when you are asked to run out as captain.
“But personally I’m more interested in the win. I would rather not be captain and win then go down there and lose that title.”
GORDON PARKS