Borders rugby star Darcy Graham hoping for gain without pain after making comeback for Edinburgh

Named as a replacement by head coach Sean Everitt with a view to getting a run-out midway through the second half at the capital’s Hive Stadium, Scotland winger Graham was forced into action ahead of schedule by a head injury sustained by full-back Harry Paterson with only nine minutes on the clock, with the high tackle responsible also yielding a red card for the visitors’ Adrea Cocagi.

That was the Borderer’s first game for his club for almost eight months and only his fifth of this calendar year following two injuries, one to his knee during Edinburgh’s 38-17 defeat at home to Munster in December last year and another to his hip in Scotland’s 36-14 loss to Ireland at the Rugby World Cup in France on Saturday, October 7.

The 26-year-old had a screw inserted in his knee a year ago after sustaining a medial cruciate ligament rupture 26 minutes into Edinburgh’s United Rugby Championship loss to Munster, ten minutes after scoring one of the hosts’ three tries, but it ended up causing him constant pain while playing for Scotland at this year’s Six Nations and world cup, as well as Edinburgh’s final four games of last season, so he decided to kill two birds with one stone and get it taken out after being sidelined by a hip injury in Paris ten months later.

“My knee issue has been ongoing,” said the ex-Hawick player after Saturday’s bonus-point win. “I got it originally against Munster.

“I got the screw taken out and that allows me to run more freely now. I am not in constant pain anymore.

“I was killing two birds with one stone because I knew my hip would take a while to heal so I got my knee sorted out at the same time.

“I can walk up stairs now and not be in pain. I don’t wake up in the middle of night feeling sore any more.

“My overall life is a lot better.

“I got the operation on my knee this time last year and that is when I got the screw put in.

“Pretty much 11 months later, I got the screw taken out and I never got another one put in.

“It did not affect me in games – it was more training-wise.

“I was so sore and it took me a lot to get warmed up and I found training quite hard. If you don’t train to full intensity, especially in the world cup at international level, you don’t get the best out of yourself.

“Even here at club level, if you don’t train at 100%, you can’t kick on.

“It probably did affect me during the world cup. I would not say I was any worse than I had been. I was average. I had more in me but I was not at my worst.

“I had been carrying that knee pain for 11 months, so it was always going to affect me.”

Graham was reliant on painkillers to get through games earlier this year but wasn’t happy about the prospect of that continuing, saying: “As soon as I got onto medication and painkillers, I was fine. I didn’t feel it.

“That was the reason we decided to take the screw out.

“I couldn’t live on painkillers and medication all the time, but when I was on that, I was fine.

“They put a fake MCL in over the top to give my real MCL time to heal. When they took out the fake MCL and screw, my normal MCL had healed fully. It is solid as a rock now. Everything is fine, back to normal.

“I just need to get back to full match fitness and work hard at training. Minutes are key for me just now. I need to get them in with the Six Nations just round the corner, so I am glad I got that run-out.

“I am just glad to be out on the pitch with the boys as it feels like forever since I was last there.”

Graham didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet during his 70-plus minutes on the pitch at the weekend, Edinburgh’s tries being scored by Wes Goosen, Duhan van der Merwe at the double, Ali Price and Matt Currie, with Ben Healy adding two conversions and a penalty.

Capped 39 times since making his debut for Scotland in 2018 – scoring 24 tries, only three short of fellow ex-Green Stuart Hogg’s all-time record of 27 – he’s been at Edinburgh for the past six years.

Next up for the capital club are two URC games in a row against Glasgow Warriors – away this Friday, December 22, at 7.35pm, and at home on Saturday, December 30, at 3pm.