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Scotland dealt mixed injury fortunes with Darcy Graham out of Bok clash

By PA
Darcy Graham/ PA

Darcy Graham has been ruled out of Scotland’s showdown with South Africa on Sunday after failing to pass head injury protocols.

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The prolific wing left the field in the closing stages of Saturday’s 57-17 win over Fiji as a result of a head knock sustained while scoring his fourth try of the match.

Head coach Gregor Townsend revealed on Tuesday afternoon that Graham will play no part against the Boks this weekend. There was better news for Scotland, however, as a hamstring injury sustained by versatile back Kyle Rowe – the most obvious contender to replace Graham on the wing after starting at full-back against Fiji – is not as bad as first feared.

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“Yes, it’s mixed news, so the good news is that Kyle Rowe is much better than expected,” Townsend said. “We literally got his scan results back in the last hour, so he has a chance for this week, so we’re not ruling him out for this week, and obviously that means we’re not ruling him out for the tournament, which is positive.

“We all felt after the game that with a hamstring injury, it could be him missing the next few games, but no, he’s recovering well, and the scan provided positive news.

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“Darcy, unfortunately, failed his (Head Injury Assessment) HIA2 and his HIA3, so he’ll be ruled out for this weekend.

“These obviously take their natural time to recover, it’s a 12-day period, so he’ll do nothing for the next three days and then he starts the graduated return to play. If everything goes well, he’ll be available for Portugal (the following Saturday).”

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Toulon scrum-half Ben White, Toulouse full-back Blair Kinghorn and Bath stand-off Finn Russell are all back in the mix for Sunday after being unavailable for the Fiji game as it took place outside the international window.

Townsend has various options to plug the gaps in his back three left by Graham and potentially Rowe, with Tom Jordan, Jamie Dobie, Kinghorn, Huw Jones and Harry Paterson all versatile enough to play different roles in the back division if required.

“Blair’s been our starting full-back for a wee while now, he’s been in great form for Toulouse, but he’s also played on the wing for us, and he’s played on the wing for Toulouse this year,” said Townsend.

“Kyle is still an option, we’ll see how he progresses over the next couple of days. Harry Paterson has played very well for us in the summer and also in the Six Nations, Arron Reed was in cracking form, I saw two games for Sale which were outstanding.

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“And we’ve also got Jamie Dobie, who’s played on the wing for us on the summer tour and for Glasgow.”

Townsend refused to be drawn on the case of Stuart Hogg, the 32-year-old former Scotland captain who pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of abusing his estranged wife over the course of five years.

“I’m not going to comment on any specific cases, especially one that’s still ongoing, but on behalf of Scottish Rugby, we condemn any abuse, whether that’s domestic, online, social, and that’s something we feel strongly about,” said Townsend.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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