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'He knows I'm breathing down his neck': Darcy Graham to Duhan van der Merwe
Darcy Graham took all of six minutes to mark his comeback from eight long months of injury frustration with a trademark try.
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If the Scotland wing acknowledged the contributions of Edinburgh centres Matt Scott and Mosese Tuipulotu and full-back Wes Goosen in providing what he called “an easy enough” opportunity, the “standard finish” he applied – an acrobatic dive into the right corner – was nevertheless a sight to send the spirits of Scottish rugby supporters soaring.
Graham only played four games for his club last season on his return from the Rugby World Cup, the last of them against Gloucester – also the opponents for last Friday’s pre-season warm-up fixture – back in January.
The groin injury that ultimately required surgery and curtailed his season followed hard on the heels of knee, hip and thigh issues since December 2022 that have cost him two successive Six Nations campaigns, plus Scotland’s recent tour of the Americas.
It has not been an easy time for the 27-year-old, or those closest to him. “I’m the worst spectator ever,” he said. “I hate watching, especially when it comes to the international games. My missus hates [watching with] me – I’m like a bear with a sore head.
“As a player you just want to play all the time, so it was obviously a hugely frustrating part of my career. But everybody gets those injuries, some worse than others. They say the time you miss in that injury period you get back at the end of the career. So I’ll be playing until I’m 40 then!”
It is a beguiling thought to imagine the livewire Borderer still hot-stepping his way to the tryline a dozen years or so hence, but for the time being he is revelling in the novel sensation of being pain-free for the first time in years.
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“It’s weird now. I wake up and I’m still getting out of bed thinking, ‘what part of my body is going to be sore today?’
“But no, I feel really good. It’s a bit of a shock, and it feels nice, waking up and not having to take painkillers or anti-inflammatories. It’s so much better for me.”
Despite insisting he “knew I was going to be fine” on his return to action after completing a full pre-season, there was still a hint of trepidation about stepping back into the fray against Gloucester.
“When you’re out of the game for a while, you’re watching it and it’s so fast and so physical, the boys are massive and you forget a bit, so going back into it is a bit daunting,” said the 5ft 9in, 84kg wing.
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“For me you just have to get stuck into it, and those 40 minutes were really good for me. It’s now just about getting that confidence back in and going hard into the contact.”
Fitness permitting, Graham is likely to play the full 80 on Friday as Irish standard-bearers Leinster rock up at the Hive Stadium for an enticing United Rugby Championship opener.
He labels it as a “massive opportunity” for Edinburgh to make an early statement after the dispiriting setback of falling out of the play-off positions in the final round of last season with a dismal defeat by Benetton in Treviso.
It is also the first of six potential URC matches Graham could play before the November Tests come around, with Fiji, South Africa, Portugal and Australia all visiting Murrayfield.
After Leinster, Graham and Edinburgh face a demanding trip to South Africa to face the Bulls and the Lions in successive weekends, both at altitude, before home games against Stormers and Cardiff and a trip to Ospreys in late October.
The effervescent wing had scored 12 tries in his previous eight matches for Scotland up to the end of last year’s World Cup, taking his overall tally to 24 in 39 Tests.
In his injury-enforced absence, Edinburgh team-mate Duhan van der Merwe has stolen a march on him to move one clear as the country’s all-time Test try scorer with 28, overtaking Stuart Hogg’s previous record.
“He knows I’m breathing down his neck,” Graham smiled. “For me it’s just about getting things going for Edinburgh. I’m not looking at that just yet. I want to get back in, play for Edinburgh, get 80 minutes under my belt hopefully this week and get it firing and just keep doing what I do and hopefully that Scotland call-up comes back.
“You never know when your last game is going to be. One injury could finish your career. So it’s just about enjoying the moments and taking a week at a time.”
Graham was up and running at the back end of last season and there was talk he might make the summer jaunt to Canada, the United States, Chile and Uruguay, where three one-sided victories preceded a more demanding, but ultimately successful, assignment in Montevideo.
“Looking back, it was frustrating not to be going,” he said. “But then in the grand scheme of things it was the right thing for me. I sat down with the coaches and spoke about it, and I would have been going on tour just straight out of rehab.
“I hadn’t even had a full week of training at that point, so it would have been putting my body under extra stress which wasn’t needed.
“If it had been a different tour away to New Zealand, South Africa, Australia or something, it’s totally different. I think the boys loved the tour, it was a good experience but as you’ve seen in the results, it wasn’t a big one to go on and it was probably the right one to miss. Hopefully, that sets me up really well going into the season.”
Talk of tours to Australia brings us round to the British and Irish Lions expedition Down Under next summer. With a fair wind on the injury front, you imagine Graham will at least be in the selection conversation for Andy Farrell and his assistant coaches, even if there is no shortage of high-class operators to choose from.
“I’m not one for looking too far forward, I like to stay present,” Graham adds. “But that’s every player’s dream, to play for their country and play for the British and Irish Lions, so I’m not going to stand here and say I don’t want to be doing that.
“It’s something I’d love to strive to achieve. But it’s just about getting things right with Edinburgh first and then Scotland, and if I play well for both of them, hopefully it comes on the back of it. You don’t get anything bigger than that, do you? Being a Lion is huge.”
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