After more than three months on the sidelines with a knee injury, Darcy Graham is back in the Edinburgh ranks for today’s game against Connacht and the Scotland winger’s return could hardly be more timely.
With just three games to go in the regular URC season, the capital club need to win at the Galway Sportsground to keep their play-off hopes alive. And to get that result, they will have to play with far more purpose and determination than they have shown over a recent run that has seen them win just once in their last eight league outings.
Which is where Graham comes in. The Scotland winger was at the top of his game earlier in the season, taking his try tally for the campaign to nine shortly before that injury in a match against Munster in early December. If anyone can give Edinburgh the energy and inspiration they need to return to winning ways, it is surely the 25-year-old from Hawick.
Assistant coach Stevie Lawrie certainly thinks so.
“It’s brilliant to have Darcy back,” he said yesterday. “He’s a ball of energy. He’s an X factor player, he can really pull a rabbit out of the hat, so it’s good to have him in amongst all the other guys. It’s exciting for the group.”
Graham had hoped to get back playing – and scoring – before the end of the Six Nations, so it was all the more frustrating for him to miss out on Scotland selection by a matter of weeks.
Now, however, he is more than ready to return to a back three that also features Argentine full-back Emiliano Boffelli, a player who is just as capable of turning games in his own team’s favour with a moment of magic.
“Having [Graham] and Boff in that back three is fantastic,” Lawrie continued. “Of course he’s been
frustrated, but he’s a top lad. He’s an excellent pro. You speak to physios every time, ‘How’s Darcy getting on?’ ‘He’s getting on with his rehab, he’s working hard, he’s upbeat’. He’s good around the group, he’s exactly the sort of guy you want to work with.”
Four senior Scotland players – Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, Hamish Watson and national captain Jamie Ritchie – have all been rested in accordance with the national team’s protocol following their exertions in the Six Nations.
However, Grant Gilchrist returns to captain the team after serving a two-match suspension for his sending-off against France in the Champ-ionship. Sam Skinner and Blair Kinghorn also come straight back into the starting line-up following Scotland squad duty, and WP Nel is on the bench.
Edinburgh lie 12th in the URC table with just three games to go in the regular season, Ospreys at home and Ulster away being the remaining two after today. They are seven points behind Connacht, who are in the eighth and last play-off position, so even a bonus-point win would leave them reliant on subsequent results – both their own and those involving other teams – going their way.
“I make no bones about it, we’re in knockout games every game now,” Lawrie added. “We said this before Scarlets [a 42-14 defeat last month in Llanelli] and we didn’t get it right in any way, shape or form. So it’s really important that we go out to Connacht and deliver a performance that just edges us a little bit closer. We’ll still be relying on other people, but if we win this game . . . Connacht are the team we’re trying to catch.”
Edinburgh (at the Sportsground, today, 3.05pm): E Boffelli; D Graham, M Bennett, J Lang, D Hoyland; B Kinghorn, H Pyrgos; B Venter, S McInally, L Atalifo, S Skinner, G Gilchrist (captain), B Muncaster, C Boyle, V Mata. Substitutes: D Cherry, L de Bruin, W Nel, M Sykes, G Young, B Vellacott, C Dean, N Sweeney.
Connacht: O McNulty; D Kilgallen, T Farrell, C Forde, J Porch; D Hawkshaw, C Blade; P Dooley, D Tierney-Martin, J Aungier, O Dowling, N Murray, C Prendergast, C Oliver, J Butler. Substitutes: D Heffernan, J Duggan, D Robertson-McCoy, D Murray, S Hurley-Langton, K Marmion, T Daly, S Jennings.
