John Barclay has dismissed the idea he will have all of Wales’ cards marked on Saturday when he faces 10 of his Scarlets teammates.
The Scotland captain insists there will be a significant difference between the way Warren Gatland’s team play in the Six Nations opener and the style he is used to with his regional teammates.
Scotland are seen as many people’s dark horses to win their first ever Six Nations title, but they are fighting against recent history this weekend, having not won in Cardiff since 2002.
But if Wales fail, Barclay believes it will not be due to any insider knowledge from his time at Parc Y Scarlets.
The back row forward, who has assumed the captaincy from Greig Laidlaw, says he doubts Gatland will change his traditional formula just because he has filled many of the slots left vacant by injured players with Scarlets.
“They’re two different teams and Warren Gatland obviously has his way of playing,” said Barclay.
“So I’d be surprised if they suddenly tore up his way of playing and adopted a totally different style.
“We play a certain way at Scarlets that suits the players we have – but I don’t know if it can be merged (into Wales’ gameplan). It’s a totally different team.
“They have got 10 guys who play for Scarlets but also five guys who don’t.
“It’s taken a long time for Scarlets to play that brand of rugby. I don’t know if it can be created in a week for the other guys and I don’t think they will try to.”
Barclay, who impressed in Scotland’s superb November Test series when they went they went close to an historic win over world champions New Zealand, and then thumped 14-man Australia, said the size of the task facing his team was illustrated by last year’s Six Nations.
“Look, winning away from home is hard,” said the 31-year-old.
“Someone said to me at the Six Nations launch that, apart from the games against Italy, only England won an away game in last year’s tournament with that last-minute try in Wales.
“So that gives you an indication of how hard it is.”
His Wales counterpart Alun Wyn Jones says he doesn’t mind if people view his side as underdogs after losing to Scotland at Murrayfield last season.
“On the back of last year, I think that would be fair,” said Jones.
“But I think sometimes it’s better to be the hunter rather than the hunted.
“If we are the underdogs, then we will take that tag, but it’s about the 80 minutes.
“We are very conscious of the brand of rugby they are playing at the minute, and their evolution over the last 18 months.
“They have a bag of tricks that I am sure they may dip into at some point of the game as well,” added the 32-year-old, who is Wales’s most capped lock and will be winning his 114th cap.
