Al Kellock has refused to "muddy the waters" of captaining the Barbarians by hankering for a Scotland recall.
The Glasgow Warriors lock admitted that his exclusion from the national side "had been coming", but vowed never to retire from international rugby and instead keep pushing for a return to Vern Cotter's squad.
The 33-year-old former Scotland captain was overlooked by head coach Cotter for the autumn Test series but will now lead the Barbarians against Australia at Twickenham today, and he is determined not to show a lack of respect for the Barbarians' history and tradition by focusing on personal gain in London this weekend.
"My last [international] game was last autumn against Japan," said Kellock, who has won 56 caps for Scotland. "I missed the Six Nations through injury and then didn't go on tour. So it's been coming. My big thing is, I'm not going to give it up, I'm going to train and play as hard as I possibly can. If the opportunity ever arises again I'll grab it with both hands. This is a great opportunity to show I can still play at the top level, and I'm looking forward to it.
"It is a great chance to play, but you just cannot concentrate too much on things like your own international situation. Do that and it would definitely muddy the waters of what is a huge honour, to play for and captain the Barbarians."
While Kellock may have accepted his Scotland omission, he knows that several Barbarians colleagues have a serious point to prove. Colin Slade and Steven Luatua missed out on the All Blacks' northern hemisphere tour, but remain on standby should New Zealand suffer any injuries.
Kellock has shared a room with free-running loose-forward Luatua this week and has seen at first hand the 23-year-old's desire to press his All Blacks claims. "He's a prime example of a guy who's just on the cusp of that All Blacks squad. He'll be looking to go out and prove that he should have been on that tour. And that's great.
"There are all sorts of motivations and it's up to us to bring them all together now, for the chief aim of beating Australia. The Wallabies have had a tough time of it, but they'll come out fighting; we've got to be switched on."
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