Scotland flanker John Barclay flies back home for wedding

SCOTLAND flanker and makeshift No 8 John Barclay has been sent home from the summer tour. But it has nothing to do with any injury, rather the Glasgow man is hurrying back to prepare for his wedding a week on Saturday.

Coach Andy Robinson confirmed that he had essentially agreed to the terms ahead of the tour. At the teams new base in Apia, Samoa, he said: “I’ve allowed John to go home.

“It was agreed before the trip that he would play the first two matches. He gets married a week on Saturday and, just with the travel and the potential risk of injury and then the logistics of getting back, we agreed back in April that, if he was to come on the trip, he’d be allowed to go back after the first two games.

“We obviously have good back row cover. Stuart McInally had been put on standby before the tour and he would have been brought out after the Australia game anyway if we hadn’t had an injury to Barclay. The plans were in place to bring him out.”

Barclay didn’t have his most effective match on Saturday but Robinson pointed out, in the player’s defence, that the breakaway was one of those who had been suffering from a stomach bug.

“John has worked very hard and played the second game having been ill. We asked him to give us a good 50 minutes and that was our plan.

“We asked him to go out there and work hard and I thought he did so. He is a very good back row forward. He isn’t a typical No 8 but I thought that they complemented each other and his work in the tackle contest was very good.”

The coach pretty much confirmed that Richie Vernon would finally get his opportunity to impress against Samoa on Saturday.

The Sale Shark must have been frustrated to see an openside flanker get the not ahead of him in his specialist No 8 position but Vernon impressed in his brief outing against Fiji and will be champing at the bit having played a bit part in Scotland’s rugby drama this season.

Robinson went on to confirm that several players were nursing bumps and bruises, including sore shoulders for Al Kellock, Max Evans and Ryan Grant. Alasdair Strokosch has an issue with his calf muscle but the biggest cloud remains over Euan Murray’s twisted knee, although the assessment was a little more positive.

“We just have to wait and see with Euan,” said Robinson.