Pressure building on Gregor, says Barclay

JOHN BARCLAY insists the pressure is mounting on Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend after he dropped Finn Russell and started the Autumn Nations series with a loss to Australia. Townsend left Lions fly-half Russell out of his squad for the four-match series, stating that the decision was based on the Racing 92 playmaker’s ‘form and consistency’. But while Russell was playing a starring role in Racing’s weekend win at Brive, Scotland No 10 Blair Kinghorn missed a penalty for victory as Scotland lost 16-15. Former Scotland captain Barclay believes the heat is now on Townsend after a disappointing Six Nations and a losing summer tour to Argentina. Speaking to BBC Sport’s Rugby Union podcast, Barclay said: ‘There’s a bit of pressure building and the external noise around Finn adds to that. ‘If that kick goes over the narrative is so different going into this week. But because they had a poor summer tour and didn’t finish the Six Nations particularly well, there’s a sense of pressure mounting.’ Scotland take on Fiji on Saturday then welcome New Zealand and then Argentina to Murrayfield in the coming weeks. Other than his kicking, Kinghorn performed well against the Wallabies — scoring a fabulous individual try — but Barclay believes the Edinburgh fly-half was ‘hung out to dry’ because Scotland had no other kicking options on the field. Barclay added: ‘He’s just constantly going to be compared to Finn and it’s kind of harsh on him because the No 10 doesn’t have to be the goal kicker in the team. There will be question marks about his kicking and, if you don’t come in with a back-up kicker, it becomes even more pressurised. ‘He has sort of been hung out to dry on that front.’ Scotland assistant coach John Dalziel yesterday made it clear Kinghorn would still be first-choice goal kicker against Fiji. ‘We back Blair,’ said Dalziel. ‘He is a goal-kicker but he doesn’t do a lot of it at domestic level, so we need to up-skill him with that. There’s no better way of building depth than giving exposure and experience to guys in the biggest arenas. I’m pretty sure if Blair is picked we’ll back him to kick as well.’