Darcy Graham makes shock early return as Edinburgh prepare for Toulon test

Scotland’s Darcy Graham will make a surprise return to action for Edinburgh in Friday night’s European Challenge Cup match against Toulon at Hive Stadium.

The British and Irish Lions winger has made a quicker-than-expected recovery after tearing a bicep in September and initially being ruled out until Christmas.

It is a timely return for the 29-year-old, who will now be hoping to force his way into Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend’s plans for next month’s Nations Championship fixtures against New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has made one other change to the starting XV following last week’s 29-12 United Rugby Championship win against Zebre in Italy, with flanker Tom Currie making his first start of the season.

Scotland second-row Grant Gilchrist has recovered from injury and hopes to make his first appearance of the season off the bench.

Everitt said: “The energy around the squad this week has been great, as we move into our first European match of the season.

“Toulon are a huge club, and with a big crowd expected at Hive Stadium we can’t wait to get stuck into the match in front of our home fans.

“Toulon bring with them a huge pedigree in Europe, and we know the challenge that will bring, but we’re excited to meet that challenge head on.”

Edinburgh Rugby: Piers O’Conor; Darcy Graham, Matt Currie (co-captain), Mosese Tuipulotu, Malelili Satala; James Grayson, Hector Patterson; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Callum Hunter-Hill, Glen Young, Tom Currie, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury (co-captain).

Replacements: Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Jamie Stewart, Paul Hill, Grant Gilchrist, Euan McVie, Conor McAlpine, Geordie Gwynn, Rory McHaffie.