Scotland were yesterday forced into a reshuffle ot their back-row to face South Africa at Murrayfield, with the injured Al Strokosch being replaced by John Barclay, man of the match when they beat the Springboks two years ago.
Barclay, who all but owned the No.7 jersey for the three previous years, has been under extreme pressure for the last 18 months, sharing the openside flanker's role with Ross Rennie, who was selected ahead of him for Sunday's meeting with the All Blacks.
Rennie suffered a dislocated shoulder early on but, having initially opting for all-out physicality for the meeting with the Springboks, the management recalled Barclay only to the bench rather than directly into the starting XV.
However, a training injury has now ruled out Strokosch which means that Kelly Brown, the captain, who was selected at No.8 against the All Blacks but then was switched to No.7 to accommodate Dave Denton's return this week, now reverts to the No.6 jersey he has filled most often in his Scotland career.
"Stroker picked up a slight calf niggle on Tuesday," explained Andy Robinson, the head coach. "We thought he'd recover by today but unfortunately he hasn't. John Barclay has trained all week in the seven slot since he picked that injury up and I'm delighted with the way he's trained.
"These guys are able to change within their roles all the time and I'm looking at the balance of that back row. It's going to be a good balance.
"John was going to get some time anyhow, but it's a big opportunity for John Barclay here. He was disappointed not to start the first game when Ross was given that opportunity. He's now got this opportunity to show everybody what he can do. I know the sort of character he is that he'll go out there and do that."
Barclay admits to having been disappointed at missing out against the All Blacks and feels he has a point to prove.
"It's strange. I've never been in this position where someone's had to be withdrawn, so it's a bit different to that but I won't think about that, I'm just going to try to prove that I should have been starting in the first place," he said.
Barclay believes he has improved since picking up that man-of-the-match award in 2010.
"I hope I'm a different player," he said. "Even throughout seasons you can see changes in the way the game's being played. Certainly I've been working on keeping my game moving forward and being more of an attacking player as opposed to just working on the floor."
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