Barclay urges Glasgow to fill the quality gap
JOHN BARCLAY insists Glasgow Warriors must f i nd quality replacements to counter the continuing l oss of their biggest stars.
Stand- off Adam Hastings and centre Huw Jones will depart at the end of the season and Barclay is concerned that the talent drain — that has also cost the Warriors stars such as Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray in recent seasons — will undermine progress and morale at Scotstoun.
Worcester Warriors’ Duncan Weir and Ben Healy of Munster have been mentioned as possible replacements for Hastings at ten but no deal has been agreed with either of them as yet.
‘I’m concerned but I won’t be if the guys are replaced,’ said Barclay. ‘In the past, Glasgow haven’t replaced some of their stars who have gone on to do great things. There’s hope rather than expectation for Glasgow now given the landscape with Covid and the financial implications.
‘If you’re losing high- calibre players you need to replace them. Showing savvy recruitment is going to be really important.
‘Glasgow in recent years have shown sustained l evels of consistency — I wouldn’t call it success — so it’s been concerning. I just hope the players they bring in are good enough to replace the guys who have left.’
Barclay said he could understand the concern among Glasgow fans who have watched their team win just two out of their first eight Pro14 games. They are unlikely to make it out of their Heineken Champions Cup group.
‘If the fans are worried then I f ully understand that,’ said Barclay, who won the 2017 Pro12 title with Scarlets after he left Glasgow. ‘I had a similar thing in Wales where Scarlets were one of the lowest-funded teams.
‘Due to s o me shrewd recruitment and academy stars coming through, we ended up with quite a handy team but, after we got a bit of success, bit by bit the bigger teams started to pick these guys off. That’s the economics of the situation.
‘ You can’t blame guys f or wanting to go if they’ve been offered more money and want different challenges. The guys who have left Scottish clubs have gone to some quality teams and played some great rugby.
‘With my Scotland hat on, that’s great to see but, if I was a Glasgow fan, I’m seeing guys leaving who you hope will be replaced but nobody knows what is going to happen in rugby.
‘Glasgow need to find a solution to replace the guys who are leaving but they’re often the most expensive ones: f ull - backs, stand-offs, even second-rows.’
Barclay believes bringing Weir back to Glasgow f or a second spell would bring much needed experience at ten once Hastings goes.
The 29-year-old left the club in 2016 to join firstly Edinburgh and then Worcester Warriors two years later.
‘I got a lot of my experience from leaving Glasgow to go to Scarlets, which meant when I left and came back to play f or Edinburgh, I was a far better player and a far more mature person,’ said Barclay, who retired at the end of last season.
‘I know Duncan was disappointed to leave Glasgow as he’s a Glasgow boy. He’s thrown himself into his game at Worcester and has evolved and improved from playing in a different league, playing against some world-class players.
‘That’s the thing about leaving. You get to bring back these experiences. He’s a Glasgow boy and his passion will be to play for Glasgow.
‘He was a young boy at Glasgow when I was there. Now he’s got his own family, he’s mellowed, he’s matured. He’s 29, so he’s still relatively young, still fit and hasn’t missed much rugby in the last couple of years. It’s quite exciting for Glasgow and it’s always nice when someone returns to their own club — if it happens.’
● John Barclay is joined by Chris Paterson, Jim Hamilton, Dougie Vipond, Rory Hamilton and Jenny Drummond for the big 1872 Cup clash on Jan 2 live from BT Murrayfield on Premier Sports 1 from 2.30pm.