Borderer Darcy Graham scores try on comeback for Edinburgh after eight months out injured

Darcy Graham in action for Edinburgh during their 33-26 pre-season friendly win at home to Gloucester at the capital’s Hive Stadium on Friday (Photo by Ewan Bootman/SNS Group/Edinburgh)Darcy Graham in action for Edinburgh during their 33-26 pre-season friendly win at home to Gloucester at the capital’s Hive Stadium on Friday (Photo by Ewan Bootman/SNS Group/Edinburgh)
Darcy Graham in action for Edinburgh during their 33-26 pre-season friendly win at home to Gloucester at the capital’s Hive Stadium on Friday (Photo by Ewan Bootman/SNS Group/Edinburgh)
Hawick’s Darcy Graham marked his return to rugby after eight months out injured by scoring a try for Edinburgh during a 33-26 pre-season friendly at home to English Premiership outfit Gloucester last Friday.

The 27-year-old touched down six minutes into his comeback at the capital’s Hive Stadium ahead of the start of his club’s latest United Rugby Championship campaign hosting Leinster on Friday, with kick-off at 7.35pm.

Right-winger Graham played for the first half of Edinburgh’s only pre-season warm-up match, with ex-Melrose player Ross McCann replacing him after the break.

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That was the Borderer’s first match since their 21-20 defeat at home to Gloucester in mid-January in the European Professional Club Rugby Challenge Cup, with a groin issue requiring surgery ruling him out of a second Six Nations on the bounce afterwards and the rest of last URC season.

Darcy Graham scoring a try for Edinburgh during their 33-26 pre-season friendly win at home to Gloucester at the capital’s Hive Stadium on Friday (Photo by Ewan Bootman/SNS Group/Edinburgh)Darcy Graham scoring a try for Edinburgh during their 33-26 pre-season friendly win at home to Gloucester at the capital’s Hive Stadium on Friday (Photo by Ewan Bootman/SNS Group/Edinburgh)
Darcy Graham scoring a try for Edinburgh during their 33-26 pre-season friendly win at home to Gloucester at the capital’s Hive Stadium on Friday (Photo by Ewan Bootman/SNS Group/Edinburgh)

Head coach Sean Everitt is glad to have him back, saying: “Darcy has had a great pre-season and the fact he never played in the summer tour served him well.

“It gave him time to recover and he is back at his best.

“That is what you get from one of the best wingers in the world, one of the best performers at the last Rugby World Cup, so it was great to have him back.”

Forwards coach Stevie Lawrie is also delighted to see Graham return, adding: “He’s fantastic, honestly.

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“If you had 50 Darcy Grahams running about, life would be all right.

“If everyone turned up to work like Darcy Graham and Pierre Schoeman, life would be absolutely grand in terms of the energy they bring.”

Edinburgh’s other tries, in front of a crowd of 5,521, were scored by Magnus Bradbury, Ben Vellacott, Tom Dodd and Dave Cherry, with Ross Thompson and Ben Healy adding two conversions each.

Touching down for their visitors were Max Llewellyn, Zach Mercer, Tomos Williams and Afo Fasogbon, with George Barton kicking three conversions.

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Graham has been allocated by Edinburgh to old club Hawick as a draft player this season, along with fellow ex-Green Hector Patterson – a try-scorer for a combined academies side during a 72-31 victory against Ulster’s under-23s at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium on Friday – plus Rob Carmichael, Tom Dodd, Boan Venter, Mikey Jones and Jack Hocking.

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