​Hawick rugby star Darcy Graham now just one game short of century for Edinburgh

​The Scotland right-winger played his 99th game for the capital city club after being named in their starting line-up for their 27-17 European Professional Club Rugby Challenge Cup defeat at home to France’s Toulon last Friday.

The 57-times-capped Borderer’s selection followed his club’s surprise announcement earlier last week that his recovery schedule from a bicep injury sustained in a pre-season friendly away to London’s Harlequins in September had been cut short by two months.

Initially expected to be sidelined until the end of the year, the Hawick 29-year-old was passed as fit to play and went straight into head coach Sean Everitt’s starting XV for his first game of the new season, also his first competitive game for the club since their 26-5 loss hosting Connacht in May.

It was his first competitive outing of any description since Scotland’s 33-17 Nations Championship win at home to Fiji at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in July.

His return at No 14, with Malelili Satala switching to the left wing and Geordie Gwynn dropping to the bench, was one of two changes to the side that beat Zebre Parma 29-12 away the Saturday prior.

Graham emerged uninjured from his 62-minute return to action for his club prior to being replaced by Geordie Gwynn and South African Everitt, 56, sees no reason why he shouldn’t represent his country too this autumn, saying: “If he gets through the next couple of games, I’m sure he can, if selected.”

Explaining his earlier-than-expected return to playing, Everitt added: “There were two options to go on with this injury. One was surgical, which initially is what we thought would take place, and then he had a second option after many medical discussions that maybe rehab would be the way to go and see if he gets his strength back within a few weeks, which has fortunately happened for us.

“It is a relief for Darcy and obviously Edinburgh and it’s great to have a guy like that back in our team.”

Graham was one of three Borderers in his side’s starting line-up versus Toulon, along with fellow ex-Green Hector Patterson at scrum-half and Jedburgh’s Glen Young at lock, plus another on the bench, Peebles’ Rory McHaffie.

Last week’s game was Edinburgh’s second at home to the French side in just over ten months, the last one having yielded a 33-20 European Rugby Champions Cup victory in December.

Their next match is at home to Johannesburg’s Lions this Friday in the championship, with kick-off at 7.45pm.