Barclay revels in his long-awaited Edinburgh debut
IT WAS a long time coming but well worth the wait. Ten months after John Barclay signed for Edinburgh, he finally made his debut for the club in Friday’s Guinness Pro14 win over Leinster. He had been sidelined all season after rupturing his Achilles tendon in May 2018 in his final game for previous club Scarlets.
Barclay was out so long that he admitted he ‘didn’t feel like a rugby player anymore’.
But in his comeback match against the Irish outfit it looked like he had never been away.
For 70 minutes — he was off for 10 minutes for a head-injury assessment — he made 14 carries and 15 tackles and was named man of the match.
Along with back-row colleagues Hamish Watson and Viliame Mata, he helped lay the foundations for a victory that keeps Edinburgh in the hunt for a Pro14 play-off place.
His return could not be better timed as Edinburgh face a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final against Munster at Murrayfield.
Having Barclay back for Saturday’s clash is a massive boost to the club — with more than 30,000 tickets already sold for the game — and the player himself.
‘It’s a lot better playing than doing leg exercises in the gym in rehab,’ said the back-row forward.
‘It was just great to get back out there again, so satisfying as it hasn’t been an easy spell for me.
‘When you are out injured you watch the game a bit differently.
I’ve been injured so long I didn’t feel like a rugby player anymore. You watch the game and just feel so far removed from it.
‘During my time injured I did a lot of television work on matches which I enjoyed but now it is back to my day job and I can’t wait for the Munster game next week.’
Barclay admitted he struggled in the first few minutes against Leinster but quickly caught up with the pace of the game.
‘Before I played I was a bit anxious about how I would deal with the high tempo,’ he said. ‘The ball was in play for the first four minutes or so and I was wondering how I would get on at that pace.
‘If it had kept in play that much more early on I would have been off pretty quickly, no question.
‘Luckily things calmed down and although as I say I was concerned about the tempo of the match, as it went on I was fine and I felt good.
‘I’ve worked hard with Luke Vella and the guys in charge of rehab over a lot of months and they’ve put me through my paces and it paid off. I was just excited to be out there playing rugby again.’
Barclay knows what it is like to play in the knockout stages of European competition after savouring it with Scarlets.
In his second season, he was part of their team that lost 38-16 at the semi-final stage to eventual winners Leinster.
‘Next week’s game against Munster will be awesome,’ said the Scotland back row. ‘I was lucky, in my time at Scarlets, to make the European semi-finals and we had 18,000 at home in the quarter-finals when we beat La Rochelle.
‘That game is one of my favourite rugby memories. It looks like we’re going to have up to 40,000 at Murrayfield for the Munster game and those occasions are the reasons you play the game.’
The 32-year-old believes Edinburgh have it in them to go all the way and not be forgotten as a tournament also-ran.
‘I couldn’t even tell you who made the quarter-finals in Europe last year,’ he said. ‘Nobody remembers that. The challenge on Saturday is to push on and see if we can get to the semis and further.
‘It’s going to be a hard, physical challenge as Munster’s pedigree in Europe is ridiculous: the amount of quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals they’ve made. They’ll be a tough one to crack, so it’s going to be a helluva ding dong.’
Barclay believes the quality in the Edinburgh pack — bolstered by second row Grant Gilchrist and captain Stuart McInally, who were rested for the win over Leinster — can be more than a match for Munster, who are also renowned for their power up front.
‘We have got some big physical specimens in the pack, too, who are very good at bludgeoning their way over,’ he said.
‘We work hard on that side of things. It’s very effective, and it’s hard to get the ball back off us.
‘Playing Leinster the week before we play Munster is perfect preparation. They share the same Irish DNA, which is made up of real physical confrontation and a lot of hard running.
‘The challenge is to stop them, but also to play in the right areas, impose ourselves, be physical and carry the ball hard to them.’
Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill was delighted to have one of his star players back before the European tie.
‘I wouldn’t say it is like having a new player — as John has been with us all season and his experience and influence has been at the club — but it is great to see him back playing,’ said Cockerill.
‘It was good to have him play against Leinster before the Munster game and he did well.
‘My original plan was to play him for 50 or 60 minutes and then use Magnus Bradbury. John went off for his HIA but he wanted to come back on which was good.
‘It has been good to have him with us in training over the last couple of weeks as he knows the game.
‘We are happy to beat Leinster but are under no illusions that they rested their top men to keep them fit for their European match next weekend.
‘We know we have to up our game against Munster to win. That victory over Leinster was good but we have to raise our game even more next weekend in Europe.’
You watch the game a bit differently and you feel so far removed from it