Borderer Darcy Graham now three clear at top of Scottish national rugby team’s all-time try-scoring leaderboard

The Hawick 28-year-old’s first try against the Irish in almost eight years of playing for his country takes his international tally to 38, three ahead of Edinburgh teammate Duhan van der Merwe and 11 clear of third-placed fellow ex-Green Stuart Hogg.

The Edinburgh right-winger’s seventh-minute try against head coach Andy Farrell’s hosts at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium – followed by fly-half Finn Russell touching down on 52 minutes and ex-Southern Knights openside flanker Rory Darge following suit on 61, with the No 10 adding three conversions – was his fourth of the tournament, following two during the Scots’ 50-40 win against France at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium seven days earlier and one during their 26-23 victory away to Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, February 21.

That makes him Scotland’s leading try-scorer of 2026’s championship, one ahead of Glasgow Warriors winger Kyle Steyn, and joint-third overall with Ireland’s Jamie Osborne and England’s Henry Arundell.

France’s Louis Bielle-Biarrey was the tournament’s top-scorer with nine, followed by his teammate Theo Attisogbe with five, both those totals including one against Scotland.

Graham’s 20-point contribution to his country’s cause also sees him end the campaign as joint-ninth-highest points-scorer, with France’s Thomas Ramos leading the way on 74 and Russell second on 53.

One of full-back Osborne’s tries was touched down as Ireland ran up a 43-21 scoreline against head coach Gregor Townsend’s visitors at the weekend in front of a crowd of 51,700, their joint-biggest home win ever against Scotland, matching the 22-point margin of victory they managed with 2014’s 28-6 thumping of a travelling side skippered by Melrose’s Kelly Brown.

Ireland’s other try-scorers as they chalked up their 12th win on the spin versus Scotland were Tommy O’Brien at the double, Dan Sheehan, Robert Baloucoune and Darragh Murray, with Jack Crowley adding five conversions and a penalty.

That result leaves Scotland, ranked seventh in the world, in third place in the Six Nations table on 16 points from five fixtures, three behind their second-placed hosts and five shy of champions France, 48-46 winners at home to England in Paris later on Saturday.

That’s as high as they’ve ever ended up in the 26-year-history of the championship’s current incarnation, with Townsend, 52, having overseen all three of their third-placed finishes during his nine years in charge, along with finishing fourth five times and fifth once.

The Borderer reckons Scotland’s wins over recent weeks against France, England and Wales – sandwiched by losses by 18-15 away to Italy in February and in Saturday’s finale in Dublin – show they can be a match for any opponents on their day and he’s hoping to be proved right by results during July and November’s inaugural Nations Championship as they take on the likes of Argentina, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

“It’s the first time that I’ve been involved as a coach that we’ve had two top-five teams in the world that we’re going to take on in the summer,” said the former Gala back after Saturday’s concluding fixture.

“We tend to go to more developing nations or nations outside the top six or seven and we’ve had a lot of young players involved in those tours, whereas now we want to carry on what we’ve obviously been delivering in the last few weeks and go to these venues with the best team we can select and give it a real crack.

“I think the team know that when they’re able to get certain areas of the game right, they can be a match for anybody.

“We’ve played some top teams in this tournament and obviously our level of performance against France was very high. That should give the players confidence no matter who they play, but, again, you have to go through the hard work to get the outcomes and you have to go through the defeats too.

“We have no right to win any game of rugby – no team does – and sometimes those lessons when you lose are painful, but they make you a stronger team.

“This is going to be painful because it’s the last game of the campaign, so there’s nothing we can do about it in training on Monday, but we have Argentina and the Springboks as our next two opponents, so we will take a lot out of this game to make us a better team.

“It’s disappointing because we didn’t get our best performance against Ireland.

“We didn’t get that third-quarter performance for ten or 15 minutes longer, but I was really proud of seeing that performance and knowing that this team have what it takes.

“The performances we’ve delivered, especially those three victories, are some of the best rugby that I’ve seen this team play.

“Today is a reminder and a lesson. The reminder is this is what we need to do to play at our best and when we do that we can compete against one of the best teams in the world. Ireland are ranked third in the world, like England and France were.

“We’ve gone up against some of the best teams in the world and we scored points and we put them under pressure, but the lesson is it has to be for a longer period. We’re not saying 80 minutes – no one can play 80 minutes when they dominate possession – but we’ve got to be better when we do have those opportunities.

“That’s sport – that’s rugby. If you want a perfect performance every week, then you’re living in fantasy-land.

“Every team are going to have moments in a game when they don’t do as well as the opposition. Every team are going to have a performance, especially in the Six Nations, when they don’t achieve their highest level of rugby.”

Graham, making his second start of the championship for Scotland after three appearances as a replacement, was on for 62 minutes against the Irish, earning his 55th cap, before making way for Kyle Rowe on 61 minutes.

He was one of two fellow Borderers in Townsend’s match-day squad along with Hawick’s Rory Sutherland, the 33-year-old having been fielded as a 69th-minute replacement for Pierre Schoeman at loosehead prop for his 48th cap.