John Barclay looks to have played his last game for Edinburgh

International pair look to have played final games for club
Edinburgh's John Barclay's contract expires at the end of the season. Picture: Bruce White / SNSEdinburgh's John Barclay's contract expires at the end of the season. Picture: Bruce White / SNS
Edinburgh's John Barclay's contract expires at the end of the season. Picture: Bruce White / SNS

It looks likely that former Scotland captain John Barclay has played his last game for Edinburgh, although his club coach Richard Cockerill believes the 33-year-old could extend his rugby career somewhere once the coronavirus crisis is over.

The 76-times-capped back-rower returned to Scotland on a two-year-contract in 2018 after a five-year-stint at Welsh side Scarlets but his first season in the capital was wrecked by a ruptured Achilles sustained in his final game for Scarlets against his former club Glasgow at Scotstoun in the Guinness Pro14 semi-finals.

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He did recover to play for the capital side and made the Scotland 2019 Rugby World Cup squad but, with his contract up at the end of this season, and with the current situation, Cockerill said: “John will not be with us next season. Unless we play before 1 July I would assume that he has played his last game [for Edinburgh], unfortunately.

“When he has been fit and available, he has a lot of experience and he has played well for us. But we do have a fantastic stable of young Scottish back rowers who are coming through and the evolution of the squad is such that the back row is a very competitive position with lots of young players there.

“I think John has every intention of playing on, as far as I know.”

Scotland centre Matt Scott is likely to be another departure after a similarly injury-blighted second spell at the club, who were top of the Pro14 Conference B when the season was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Things are on hold for now in terms of player contracts and any thoughts of signings, but Cockeril added: “We are probably about 95 per cent done recruitment wise. If we don’t recruit another player between now and the start of next season will be more than happy with what we’ve got.

“We have a small bit of budget left to potentially go to the market, but, at the moment, it is not the right thing to be doing financially. We will just sit tight and see where we get to. It is about keeping our squad together and building on what we have got.”

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