EDINBURGH winger Darcy Graham will miss the first two rounds of European games against Saracens and Castres - and probably both 1872 Cup matches too - after injuring a knee in last week’s defeat by Munster.
The capital club expect a more definite prognosis soon, but for the moment it is possible that the Scotland international could also be ruled out of the opening games of next year as well as the last four of 2022.
“Darcy is going to be a few weeks,” Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair said yesterday. “Not completely sure how long he will be out, but it will be longer than shorter.
“It’s around his MCL [medial collateral ligament]. We’ll have to wait and see. It didn’t look great at the time. He fell awkwardly around the ten-metre line - nothing malicious or anything like that, just an unfortunate one.
“People recover differently from these kind of things. We just need to access it once the swelling has gone down and we get the results of the scan.”
Asked if Graham would be absent for the double-header against Glasgow Warriors at the end of this month as well as the Euro ties, Blair added: “Likely, yes. We should know soon how long exactly he will be out for.”
Graham has been in outstanding form so far this season, and scored for Edinburgh in their loss to Munster. He would have been sure to start against Saracens in the Champions Cup on Sunday, but Blair believes he has adequate cover in the back three, especially with Emiliano Boffelli likely to be passed fit after sitting out last week’s league match. The Argentine international can play either on the wing or at full-back, and will be in contention for the three back-three places with the likes of Duhan van der Merwe, Henry Immelman, Damian Hoyland and Jack Blain.
All the same, to lose a player of Graham’s calibre is a significant blow at a time of the season when big games are coming thick and fast. “He has had a real bounce in his step,” the coach said of Graham. “He started that way with us and continued that with Scotland, and he scored again on Friday night.
“But you know, you try and find silver linings to stuff like that. We are fortunate we have a number of back-three players that will come in and make an impact - we have some strength in depth there.
“Boffelli should be ready to go. He was out training just there. We’re comfortable with where he is at the moment.”
Chris Dean, who like Graham was taken off injured last week after scoring a try, is another player in the doubtful category for the trip to the StoneX Stadium. “He was excellent,” Blair said of the centre, who had been on top of his game in recent weeks.
“He took a bang to his head and is starting to go through the protocols. Fortunately it is a longer turnaround, but we’ll just have to see where that one lands when it comes to making a decision.”
Edinburgh won at Saracens last season in what was arguably their best performance of Blair’s debut campaign in charge of the team. But that was in the Challenge Cup, and although the English club nonetheless put out a pretty strong team, they were still rebuilding after just being promoted back to the Premiership. This year they are in formidable form, and lead the top flight after winning all nine of their league games so far.
Blair said the squad had yet to get round to studying this weekend’s opposition or to reflecting on last season’s success against them. But the fact that Edinburgh, like Saracens, are back in European rugby’s top competition is sure to be a significant source of motivation for the squad.
“It was the Challenge Cup last year,” the coach added. “This is eating at the top table again, so we know they’ll bring a huge presence with them and a lot of confidence, but we also know the team we’ll put on the pitch can be a match for them.
“We have to find a way of wresting the momentum away from them and improve our own game. Yeah, it’s great to be playing Heineken Cup rugby and this is a real challenge for us.”
