John Barclay

Who is John Barclay?

John Barclay born 24 September 1986 in Hong Kong is a Scottish rugby union player for Scarlets in the Pro 12.His position is Openside Flanker.

He attended Dollar Academy where he captained the school's 1st XV to victory against the High School of Dundee in the Bell Lawrie White Scottish Schools Cup final at Murrayfield in 2004. Immediately after leaving school, whilst still only the age of 17, he was invited to train with the Scotland Squad by Matt Williams, the Scotland coach at the time. After Williams departure as head coach Barclay was not picked for the Scotland squad again until the 2007 World Cup after a run of strong performances for club side Glasgow Warriors. He made his debut versus New Zealand in the pool stages in a mainly B side eventually losing 40-0.

After the 2007 World Cup Barclay started to become involved with the Scotland Squad more and became a permanent starter until the end of the 2011 World Cup. During this time he gained wide recognition from many pundits as one of the top Openside "fetchers" in the game due to his dominance of the breakdown.