Barclay wary of Russian threat as Scotland chase bonus point

John Barclay reassumes the Scotland captaincy this morning with both a point to prove and a bonus point to gain against Russia in the Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa.

Barclay was one of several players dropped by head coach Gregor Townsend following Scotland’s opening-round 27-3 defeat by Ireland. Returning against Russia is a mixed blessing given that it almost certainly precludes their involvement in the final pool match against Japan on Sunday.

“The reality is that the guys who are playing against Russia will be on the outskirts for the next game,” said Barclay, who was Scotland’s permanent captain from February 2017 to March 2018.

“I’ve been frustrated since the Ireland game. It’s the first time I have been left out of the squad since returning to the fold.”

Barclay is not the only one harbouring pent-up frustration. Fullback Blair Kinghorn, centre Pete Horne, lock Ben Toolis and hooker George Turner will all make their first appearances of the tournament and Barclay says players will be out to make a statement. “There’s five guys who haven’t played and they’re chomping at that bit,” Barclay said.

“We’ve been here over four weeks and they haven’t played a minute. I’ve not played a huge amount in four weeks, so throughout the squad there’s points to prove about selection. I need to prove I deserve to be involved against Japan.”

Victory is needed over Russia just to remain in the tournament and set up a finale against Japan. A bonus-point victory against Russia would make that task ever so slightly easier, taking Scotland up to 10 points in Pool A, four behind the hosts.

However, Barclay warned against assuming a bonus point will be a formality. “I’ve played enough of these games where if you try to score four tries before you score one you can get in a bit of trouble,” he said.

“We’re not thinking about that early on. If it gets to 70 minutes and we’ve scored one that might become the case, but we have to back ourselves and not try to score the fourth before we’ve scored the third. Back our skills, grind them down, we believe our fitness will be superior to theirs.”