Borderer Darcy Graham keeps starting place in Scottish national rugby team for Six Nations finale in Ireland
Borderer Darcy Graham is to see out rugby’s 2026 Six Nations as Scotland’s first-choice right-winger after marking his reunion with the national team’s No 14 jersey on Saturday by scoring two tries against France.
That was the Hawick 28-year-old’s first start for his country since he hit his half-century of international caps for a 33-24 loss hosting Argentina at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium back in mid-November, all three of his appearances in between having been from the bench.
Edinburgh winger Graham – now restored as Scotland’s leading try-scorer of all time, with 37 – was on for all 80 minutes on Saturday in the No 14 shirt given to Glasgow Warriors’ Kyle Steyn for Scotland’s 18-15 opening-round loss away to Italy on Saturday, February 7, and the back-to-back wins that followed the two Saturdays after, by 31-20 at home to England and 26-23 away to Wales respectively.
Now on 54 caps, he continues on the right wing for head coach Gregor Townsend’s championship finale away to Ireland this coming Saturday, with kick-off in Dublin at 2.10pm.
Steyn, 32, switched to the opposite side of the pitch versus the French at the weekend, matching Graham’s brace of tries to take his Scotland tally to 18, and the 32-times-capped South African carries on at No 11 this weekend.
Graham’s fellow ex-Green Rory Sutherland made his first appearance of this Six Nations versus the French, replacing Pierre Schoeman at loosehead prop on 64 minutes for his 47th cap, and the 33-year-old keeps his place on the bench this weekend.
Joining Graham and Steyn among Scotland’s starting backs are Blair Kinghorn, Huw Jones, captain Sione Tuipulotu, Finn Russell and Ben White.
Up front will be Schoeman, George Turner, Zander and Matt Fagerson, Max Williamson, Grant Gilchrist, ex-Southern Knight Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey.
Accompanying Sutherland on the bench will be Ewan Ashman, D’Arcy Rae, Alex Craig, Magnus Bradbury, George Horne, Kyle Rowe and Tom Jordan.
Scotland’s first Auld Alliance Trophy win against France since 2021 takes Townsend’s second-placed team level with their table-topping visitors on 16 points from four fixtures and keeps them in contention for their first Six Nations title ever, with third-placed Ireland on 14 from four.
Scotland head over to Dublin hoping to end an 11-match losing streak against the Irish by claiming their first win there since 2010 and first against them all told since 2017 and Graham fancies their chances of defying the form-book, saying: “100% I think they’re there for the taking.
“They’ve probably not been firing as well as they have in previous campaigns.
“They’re still a world-class team and it’s a difficult place to go.
“I’ve never been there and won and I can’t even remember the last time we won there. It’s been a long time, but our confidence is right up there. We’ll go there full guns blazing.
“Personally, it’s one I’m really excited for. I would love to get a win. I think it would be massive.
“I’ve never beaten Ireland, so it would be huge to go over there and win over them.
“It is up to us now, so we’ll all go over there next week and see what we can do.”