Mr Darcy's pride at rejoining Scotland squad

Scotland's wing Darcy Graham (L) scores their first try during the Autumn International rugby union Test match between Scotland and Georgia at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on October 23, 2020. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Darcy Graham returns to Scotland’s starting XV following their winning start to the 2021 Guinness Six Nations, as they line up this Saturday against Wales at BT Murrayfield.

The Edinburgh winger missed out on last Saturday’s historic win over England but returns this Saturday to his familiar role in the back line alongside fellow Hawick ‘old boy’, team captain and Twickenham man of the match, Stuart Hogg.

This will be 23-year-old Graham’s 16th cap and the last time he played in Scotland colours was in the previous meeting between the two nations, when the Scots beat Wales in Llanelli in October’s concluding round of the 2020 Six Nations contest.

Cameron Redpath, who made such an impressive impact on his debut at Twickenham last week, following in the footsteps of Borderer dad Bryan by playing for Scotland, is unavailable through injury.

Darcy’s namesake, Gary Graham, another son of a famous Scotland rugby international – George Graham – retains his place on the substitutes’ bench, despite speculation that he might, on this occasion, have made the starting line-up.

Ex-Gala and Hawick loose head prop Rory Sutherland is in the front row once again to complete the Borders contingent for the game, which kicks off at 4.45pm and is live on BBC Sport.Head coach and former Gala ace Gregor Townsend said: “We have an opportunity this weekend against Wales to continue the positive start to the Guinness Six Nations we made last week against England.“It was a very encouraging performance at Twickenham and the squad performed to a level which has to be the benchmark throughout the tournament.

"Wales are also coming into this game after a win and will have the same objective, so it will be a tough challenge as always.“Both teams were involved in physical contests last weekend and that is evidenced by the injuries Wales and we ourselves have picked up (Jamie Ritchie, Sean Maitland, Cameron Redpath). For us, we are able to bring in three quality players in Blade Thomson, James Lang and Darcy Graham. They have been training well and are highly motivated to make the most of this opportunity.”

Squad – 15 Stuart Hogg (captain), 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Harris, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell , 9 Ali Price, 1 Rory Sutherland, 2 George Turner, 3.Zander Fagerson, 4 Scott Cummings, 5 Jonny Gray, 6 Blade Thomson, 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Matt Fagerson. Subs – 16 David Cherry (Edinburgh), 17 Oli Kebble, 18 WP Nel, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Gary Graham, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Huw Jones.