BARCLAY HITS BACK
Spurned Scot puts Warriors to the sword
IT HAD been billed as Josh Strauss, the untried back row who did make the Scotland World Cup squad, against John Barclay, one of those left out to make way for him.
In the end, there was no doubt who was the winner as Barclay led a remarkable first-half onslaught and brave defence in the closing stages that ended Glasgow Warriors’ proud 20-match unbeaten home record.
He was duly rewarded with the man-of-the-match award, though he insisted that the Scotland rejection, when Vern Cotter rang him up a week ago to tell him that he had missed the final cut for the national squad, had nothing to do with how well he had played.
‘I was really down on Sunday, obviously, but it was great to come back to Scotland and play,’ Barclay admitted.
‘I was not playing against Scotland but against Glasgow, which is a totally different thing.
‘I am lucky to be at a club where I am enjoying my rugby and they welcomed me back, which was great.
‘It is a really good result. We realise we have to pick off the top four teams from last year in this period. It was a good win.’
What made it even more remarkable was that the Scarlets managed to hang on despite finishing the match with only 11 men on the field, Rhodri Williams having gone off with a cut head to join no fewer than three of his colleagues who were sin-binned for a variety of offences as they resisted Glasgow’s furious final assault on their line.
They could not keep it totally intact, with Glenn Bryce, the home full-back, going over for a try that left his team with one final chance to rescue the game, but the Scarlets had already built up enough of a lead to hang on to clinch the result.
For Barclay, it was something of a personal triumph.
He is known for his work at the breakdown — and he laid on a demonstration of what Scotland are missing as he pinched a series of turnovers and forced Glasgow to concede a string of penalties in the first half that gave his side the chance to build up enough of a cushion to resist the backlash they always knew was coming.
‘I’d imagine it was frustrating for the supporters,’ admitted Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow head coach, afterwards.
‘We took too long to get into our game and, in the end, it was too late to win the match.
‘We have trained really well, the week was full of high-quality sessions and, in the warm-up, we were accurate but we stood off Scarlets in the first half.’
The Welsh had gone ahead early when Aaron Shingler, the flanker, was able to reach out after hurling himself over a pile of bodies.
They managed a second when Michael Tagicakibau, the wing, was given space after the forwards had mauled their way close to the line.
Add two Dan Jones penalties and they had enough in the bank despite Mike Cusack, the Glasgow prop, going over for a score early in the second half.
Slowly, Glasgow started to dominate the game and they did have chances to score before the end.
The final 10 minutes saw them mount a sustained assault on the Welsh line, first going a man up when the Scarlets pulled down a scrum on their line, then going three up when two of the Scarlets’ back row, including Barclay, were sin-binned for killing rucks.
It was enough for Glenn Bryce to go over to win a losing bonus point, but it was too little, too late.