EX-GLASGOW forward John Barclay has been given a rare chance to start a game for Scotland against Italy tomorrow - and he is determined to seize the opportunity to force his way into Vern Cotter’s squad for the Rugby World Cup.

The openside flanker, now with the Scarlets in Wales, has been out in the cold for much of the past two years, first when Scott Johnson was head coach and then under Cotter. But, after being overlooked for the Six Nations, he was called up into the bigger training squad for the World Cup, and after coming off the bench in the first warm-up game against Ireland will go all out to prove he should be included in the final 31 to be announced next week.

The 28-year-old knows from friends how bad it feels to be chopped from a World Cup squad, and he had an unhappy time himself at the last tournament, as Scotland failed for the first time to make it beyond the group stage. Little wonder, then, that he wants first, to be involved again, and then, to help steer Scotland out of the pool and into the knockout phase of the competition.

“Graeme Morrison, my best mate, missed out [in 2007],” he said. “Johnnie Beattie missed out four years ago and they were gutted.

“Johnnie never got a chance to play in the World Cup and he was gutted. I spoke to Graeme afterwards and he was devastated. Everyone wants to play in a World Cup.

“I'm lucky I've had the chance to go to two, but I definitely feel like I have a lot to offer. I have some unfinished business: the last World Cup was one of the most disappointing experiences of my life.”

Having said that, Barclay admitted that over the two years when he was out of the squad he learned to become philosophical about it. He knew that all he could do was play to the best of his ability, and accepted that he might not get a chance to add to his 43 caps.

“I was really enjoying my rugby where I was and felt I was playing well,” he said. “So I think I realised you can only do what you can do and if you don’t get picked you don’t get picked.

“It took me a while to realise that. As the months wore on I accepted that I can just do what I can do. I guess it worked in the end.

“After the Six Nations I thought that might have been it, but then Vern phoned me and said ‘Look, keep your head down, you’re doing some good stuff, we’re just looking at a couple of different players’.”

Glasgow flanker Ryan Wilson starts on the other side of the back row from Barclay after completing a six-month suspension imposed by Scottish Rugby after his conviction for assault. The Warriors’ Sean Lamont is the only player to hold on to his starting place from the team that began last week’s 16-12 win in Italy.

Scotland (v Italy at Murrayfield, Saturday, 3.15pm): S Hogg; S Lamont, M Bennett, P Horne (all Glasgow), T Visser (Newcastle); F Russell (Glasgow), G Laidlaw (Gloucester); A Dickinson, R Ford, W Nel, G Gilchrist (all Edinburgh), J Gray, R Wilson (both Glasgow), J Barclay (Scarlets), D Denton (Edinburgh). Substitutes: S McInally (Edinburgh), G Reid (Glasgow), J Welsh (Newcastle), R Harley (Glasgow), B Cowan (London Irish), H Pyrgos (Glasgow), R Jackson (Wasps), M Scott (Edinburgh).