Barclay’s comeback capped

● Scarlets flanker promises to lead side his way as he prepares to take on Wales

then had to come off too. So it was pretty easy, all we had to do was wait to make sure that his shoulder was okay. As soon as Greig was injured in Paris he took over the captaincy. It was something that had been spoken about beforehand, perhaps not with John, but the coaches had discussed it. Captaincy is something that comes naturally to him, he doesn’t have to force it. And he’s respected by the players so it was pretty easy.”

Now Barclay leads Scotland against a Welsh team that includes many of his Scarlets team-mates, in a match that will go a long way towards determining the success of both sides in this tournament.

What’s more, the flanker has to somehow fill the huge void left by one of the game’s smaller players. Scrum-half Laidlaw has led Scotland more than anyone else, overtaking David Sole’s 25-match mark in the 2016 Six Nations, and while the newbie leader may be a little inexperienced to know exactly what to do, he is smart enough to understand how not to go about the business.

“I’ve been texting Greig and will ring him later just to have a chat with him,” said Barclay. “I can’t try and be like Greig as captain but since Monday I realised just how much stuff Greig does in addition to what you guys see and even in addition to what I saw as a player in the squad. It’s opened my eyes a little bit to see the influence he’s had behind the scenes and on the group.

“I think it’s important that I don’t try to be like Greig. That’s not meant disrespectfully, it means that I have to be my [own] captain. I think if I try to be Greig the players will see through that.

“I have to captain the team as myself. But certainly Greig has put in the structures and practices that the captain is expected [to do], so I guess the guidelines are there. I think as the captain you can go about it how you want to.”

If being captain wasn’t enough to worry about, Barclay has to battle against two of the best in the business, the Lions pair of Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric who, the Scot noted, come with a “proven pedigree”.

Barclay is undoubtedly his own man but he has a few other leaders on the field to tap into should the need arise. Cotter also let slip that Laidlaw was still in camp and talking to the players on a daily basis, offering advice and psychological support until the end of next week.

Still, the new man admitted that he had underestimated the amount of unseen work that falls into the captain’s lap.