Helping Scots win first rugby title since 1999 would be dream come true, says Darcy Graham
It’s now nine years and 11 fixtures since Scotland’s national rugby team last got the better of their Irish opposite numbers, but Hawick’s Darcy Graham reckons an end to that near-decade of hurt could be in prospect this coming Saturday.
The last of their 66 wins in 143 games since 1877 was back in February 2017, by 27-22 at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium, with all but five of their points supplied by Jedburgh’s Greig Laidlaw and Hawick’s Stuart Hogg.
That was 21 months prior to Graham’s international debut and three months ahead of fellow Borderer Gregor Townsend taking over from Vern Cotter as head coach.
Graham, 28, has gone on to earn 54 caps since then, touching down a record 37 tries, though he’s yet to score against the Irish.
Townsend, 52, is also yet to register his first win against Ireland but he’s hoping he can pull that off at the 12th time of asking, the closest he’s got being a 27-24 defeat in Edinburgh in 2021.
Like 2017’s win, the two before it, in 2013 and 2011, were at Murrayfield, Scotland’s last away victory against the Irish, by 23-20 at Dublin’s Croke Park, dating all the way back to 2010, with Andy Robinson in charge and Kelso’s Ross Ford and Melrose’s Kelly Brown in his starting XV.
This weekend’s Six Nations finale is in Dublin, with kick-off against head coach Andy Farrell’s third-placed side at the Aviva Stadium at 2.10pm, and Graham believes a first win there for over a decade and a half is up for grabs
“100% I think they’re there for the taking,” said the Edinburgh right-winger, scorer of two tries during Saturrday gone’s 50-40 win hosting table-toppers France, currently level with second-placed Scotland on 16 points from four fixtures, two ahead of the Irish.
“They’ve probably not been firing as well as they have in previous campaigns.
“They’re still a world-class team and it’s a difficult place to go.
“I’ve never been there and won and I can’t even remember the last time we won there. It’s been a long time, but our confidence is right up there. We’ll go there full guns blazing.
“Personally, it’s one I’m really excited for. I would love to get a win. I think it would be massive.
“I’ve never beaten Ireland, so it would be huge to go over there and win over them.
“They’re world-class at everything they do. They’ve got their system and it works for them. Everybody buys into that, so it’s very hard to break them down, especially when their fans get on top of you. It’s a difficult place to go and they’re a pretty complete team.
“It is up to us now, so we’ll all go over there next week and see what we can do.”
Scotland go into a championship’s last fixture card in contention – together with France and Ireland, though the former’s on-field points difference, 58 better than the Scots’, gives them the upper hand – for a title for the first time in over a quarter of a century and Graham says it would be the stuff of dreams if they could finally follow up 1999’s swan-song Five Nations win, with Melrose’s Jim Telfer as head coach, Jedburgh’s Gary Armstrong as squad captain and Kelso’s Alan Tait as top try-scorer, with five.
“That would be a dream come true,” he confessed.
“I’ve said from the start of my career that I’d be gutted if I went the whole of it and didn’t win something big, be that the Six Nations, the United Rugby Championship back with Edinburgh, whatever.
“When I see the boys, especially Blair Kinghorn, the success he’s had out in France winning the double, I’m jealous of that.
“I would love to do that. It would be a dream come true.”