Borders men and women shine on the world stage

Borders ace Darcy Graham garnered plaudits for his display yesterday (Wednesday) as Scotland stacked up nine tries to defeat Russia 61-0 in the Rugby World Cup.
Lisa Thomson scored a try in each Test on the South African tour (picture by Scottish Rugby / Carl Fourie)Lisa Thomson scored a try in each Test on the South African tour (picture by Scottish Rugby / Carl Fourie)
Lisa Thomson scored a try in each Test on the South African tour (picture by Scottish Rugby / Carl Fourie)

The 22-year-old winger made a number of his trademark advances and, early in the second half, surged through the Russian defence, covering around 70 metres, before his pass enabled George Horne to score the second of his three tries during the game.

In the first half, Scottish Rugby noted during its live updates: “Graham has been excellent. The Hawick man has had a fantastic 40 minutes, showing some electric breaks.”

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At present, it’s still uncertain if Scotland’s crucial and decisive Pool A match against hosts Japan can go ahead, because of the threat posed by ‘super typhoon’ Hagibis.an.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s women have done their general confidence, their Autumn Test preparation, and their ambitions of reaching the 2021 World Cup in New Zealand, a world of good after their tour of South Africa.

In their first ever excursion to the southern hemisphere, they defeated the Springboks 2-0 in the Test match series.

They followed a 5-47 triumph with a 15-38 win on Saturday in Cape Town.

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Former Scots captain Lisa Thomson, of Hawick, scored a try in the second Test, as she had done in the first.

Lisa was joined in the squad by Jedburgh’s Chloe Rollie – who scored two tries in the first Test – Lana Skeldon of Hawick and Selkirk’s Mhairi Grieve, who started the second Test on the bench.

Lisa saidthe women were looking forward to playing again Scotand and added: “One of our main goals out there was to gel as a squad, and we definitely did that.”