It seemed appropriate that John Barclay announced his retirement from international rugby – after 76 caps over 12 years – by publishing a post on his own Instagram account as opposed to having it broadcast through the usual SRU-crafted press release.
He is hardly a born rebel, but the 33-year-old has always known his own mind and has more than earned the right to take this significant step towards the end of his playing career on his own terms.
“All good things must come to an end … After much thought I have decided the time is right to step down from the international game,” wrote Barclay, alongside a photo of himself playing
in his first Scotland match against New Zealand as a
fresh-faced 20-year-old at the 2007 World Cup.
“This isn’t an easy decision to make; playing for Scotland is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication and undoubtedly one the best things I will achieve in my life. But for me and my family it feels like the right time.
“It has truly been a privilege to wear the jersey. Not many people can say they got to live their boyhood dream, but I was lucky enough to have that honour and it is something I am unbelievably proud of.
“To my family and friends for supporting me all over the world, a big thank you. Most importantly, though, thank you to my wife for her support looking after our growing family when I have been away and for dealing with the inevitable ups and downs associated with playing international rugby.
“Not the end of my rugby journey, but the end of one chapter. Thanks for the memories.”
Barclay’s contract with Edinburgh runs out at the end of the season, and it is not clear whether he will look to carry on playing club rugby after that.
He made his debut in 2007 as part of a sacrificial Scotland team sent out against the All Blacks so the senior side could be rested ahead of the team’s vital final World Cup pool match against Italy six days later. However, his association with the senior national team began three years earlier when, just after his 18th birthday, he was called into the extended training squad for the 2004 November Test series.
This was just a few months after he had left Dollar Academy and he was playing club rugby for Glasgow Hawks 2nd XV. It was the first real indication to the wider rugby public that a special player was about to arrive on the scene.
Barclay went on to make three appearances off the bench for Glasgow Warriors that season and, by the 2007 World Cup, he was a regular in club’s back-row, as part of the formidable “Killer Bs”, alongside Kelly Brown and Johnnie Beattie.
His ascent may have been slick, but it was not a smooth ride. He spent two years excluded from the Scotland set-up between November 2013 and August 2015 after a falling foul of former SRU Director of Performance Rugby Scott Johnson, who was filling in as interim Scotland head coach at the time while Vern Cotter saw out his contract at Clermont.
He was recalled for the 2015 World Cup training camp but did not make the final cut. His perseverance was rewarded when he was restored to Scotland’s front-line for the opening game of Scotland’s next Six Nations campaign against England, launching an uninterrupted 26-match run in the team.
He took over the captaincy from the injured Greig Laidlaw during the 2017 Six Nations and led the side to their famous victory over Australia in Sydney.
Barclay continued to captain Scotland during the 2018 Six Nations leading them to their sensational Calcutta Cup win over England as they achieved a better than 50% winning record in the Championship for the first time since 2006.
He moved to Edinburgh in the summer of 2018 but his first season was blighted by an Achilles injury picked up playing for Scarlets. He did manage to fight his way back to fitness for the recent World Cup in Japan but struggled to recapture his pre-injury form and ended up being one of the senior players dropped after the catastrophic opening defeat to Ireland.
He was given one last run in the jersey in the penultimate pool stage match against
Russia, and galloped home for a 40-yard try late in that 61-0 victory – which proved to be his last real contribution to an excellent Scotland career.
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