Borders rugby star Darcy Graham hoping for British and Irish Lions call-up: ‘I want to go on that tour’

Head coach Andy Farrell’s Lions tour Australia from late June into August, playing ten matches, three of them tests against the Wallabies, and Edinburgh right-winger Graham, 27, is hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow ex-Greens Stuart Hogg and Rory Sutherland last time round in South Africa in 2021.

“It’s the pinnacle, and if you don’t speak about your dreams, speak about them openly, they’re not going to happen,” he told the Times.

“I want to go on that Lions tour, but there’s so much rugby to get played until that point, and the Six Nations is obviously the big one – you need to put your hand up, you need to perform well there.

“I never really watched a huge amount of Lions rugby growing up. All I wanted to do was play for Hawick, then play for Scotland.

“It was almost too far away. Growing up, you’re like ‘no chance could that ever happen’, but then when you’ve played for a few years, you’re like ‘right, what’s the next step up? How can I push myself, how can I get to that next level, which is the Lions?’, then you’re like ‘right, let’s go for it’.”

Graham accepts that’ll be easier said than done, however, maintaining that, even 42 caps and 29 tries on from his international debut in November 2018, he doesn’t take Scotland call-ups for granted and accepting that going up against Irish, English and Welsh competition for a match-day place would be an even bigger challenge.

“For me, to play in the Scotland jersey, it’s not guaranteed,” he told the London-based newspaper.

“I need to be on my game. It’s easy to get there – staying there is the hard part because there’s always somebody trying to steal that jersey off you, be better than you.

“I love it, I love getting the nod over someone else. It’s a good feeling, but, obviously, there is then pressure on you to turn up for that game and keep that jersey."

Hogg and Sutherland are among 13 Lions produced by the Greens over the years – along with Tony Stanger, Hugh McLeod, Alan Tomes, Bob and Willie Burnet, Doug Davies, Colin Deans, Derrick Grant, Alex Laing, Willie Welsh and Jim Renwick – and Graham is fully aware that to be in with a shout of adding to their ranks, he’ll need to impress at this year’s Six Nations, a tournament he’s not played in since 2022 due to various injuries.

He’s hopeful head coach Gregor Townsend’s Scots can improve on their recent showings, though, not having finished higher than third since 1999 and having had to settle for fourth place in 2002, 2003, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024; fifth in 2000, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2019; and bottom in 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2015.

Graham – part of the Edinburgh team that beat France’s Vannes 29-25 away on Saturday, playing for the full 80 minutes but not adding to the 34 tries he’s scored for the capital side in 64 appearances since 2017 – cites November’s 27-13 home win against Australia and being able to call on the likes of former Lion Finn Russell and Blair Kinghorn as grounds for optimism, saying: “You look at the Scotland team now – it’s just filled with winners.

“All the Glasgow boys have gone on to win something. Finn has taken Bath from second-bottom to the premiership final last year pretty much single-handedly, Blair is a double-champion.

“We put Australia away quite comfortably after they beat a solid England team, and we were in the fight the whole game against South Africa.

“We’re there with the big teams – it’s now about doing something with the team we’ve got.”

Scotland, ranked sixth in the world at the moment, begin 2025’s Six Nations with back-to-back games at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium – versus Italy on Saturday, February 1, and Farrell’s Ireland on Sunday, February 9, their visitors being ranked tenth and second respectively, with a further one there to follow against 11th-rated Wales on Saturday, March 8 – and Graham is hoping his country can make the most of that home advantage to end a ten-match losing streak against the Irish stretching back to 2018.

“Ireland is the big one for us,” he said.

“We’ve obviously got them here, so it’s going to be a great opportunity, but again it’s just about doing it on the day, turning up and getting everything right.

“Ireland are the best team in the world. They’re tough to break down, so it’s going to be a huge challenge for us, but individually you have to believe in it, believe that you’re better than your opposite number.”

Graham’s Times interview can be read in full at https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/darcy-graham-interview-scotland-rugby-lions-edinburgh-mcmmdt6vf, subscription required.