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The parts of his game four-try Darcy Graham wasn't thrilled about
Time was practically up when RugbyPass finally fleetingly caught up alone with Darcy Graham in the Saturday night mixed zone in Lille. Scotland’s four-try star had understandably been in demand and a multitude of interviews had already been conducted when he made his final pit stop, chatting politely for a couple of minutes despite a hurry-up “bus” shout from dressed and ready teammates such as Chris Harris who were already headed for the exit.
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Graham’s performance against Pool B minnows Romania had been popularly received. Not just by Scotland fans jubilant that 84 unanswered points were scored to set up next Saturday’s knockout pool showdown with Ireland in Paris.
Graham had also been a canny weekend four pick in the Rugby World Cup Fantasy game that rugby supporters the world over had been playing the whole way through September and the Scottish winger’s all-action effort at Stade Mauroy was gold.
His whopping 195-point performance made him the online game’s best-rated player so far in the tournament and his overall 251 points total pushed him ahead of the previous leader, the 231-point Bundee Aki.
Does the Scotland team follow the ratings? “I don’t think many of the boys have been on it, (but) I have been having a few messages,” he admitted before learning that he was now top of the charts and the World Cup’s most valuable fantasy pick. “Oh really, oh wow. Incredible. I’ll take that.”
To those of you who chose Darcy Graham in their fantasy team this weekend #fantasyrugby #SCOvROM pic.twitter.com/h8qro0ZQy5
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 30, 2023
Let’s quickly get down to brass tacks, which of his four tries in Lille – a scoring spree that included a 19-minute first-half try hat-trick – was his favourite?
“The first one, was it? I cut off Ali (Price) and then from (ran) halfway. I enjoyed that one but they are all special and to score for your country is always a special moment.
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“That [scoring tries] is my job. We all have a lot of jobs to do in the team, that is one of my jobs. Yeah, it’s kind of next job after that.”
Saturday night’s effort nudged him from sixth to joint-second in the all-time Scotland try-scoring list, his overall 24-try tally taking him level with Tony Stanger and Ian Smith and leaving him poised behind Stuart Hogg’s landmark of 27.
Match day skipper Grant Gilchrist had earlier backed Graham to clinch the record. “If I was a betting man I would say yes; some of the tries he scored tonight were truly world-class,” he quipped, an endorsement backed by coach Gregor Townsend.
“He’s a great finisher, his footwork for his fourth try was incredible. He had a few assists in there too. It was brilliant to see.”
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And yet, Graham, who was set to get ice to help mend a wee bang on the calf that resulted in his left leg being bandaged post-game, admitted to RugbyPass that his effort versus the Romanians wasn’t the complete display and that there were elements which needed working on ahead of taking on Ireland at Stade de France.
“There is always more, you can always get better,” he remarked. “I don’t think it was a 100 per cent performance. I made a few mistakes. Didn’t hit a few rucks quick enough, got turned over as well. I need to squeeze them out of my game so there is more to come.”
Is he always this critical of himself post-game? “I’ll enjoy tonight. I played well but I will look at my game tomorrow [Sunday] and see how I can make better decisions or make better options and make sure how I can stop getting turned over. I’ll look at that tomorrow and see what I can improve on.”
It’s all or nothing for the third-place Scotland versus the No1-ranked Irish. They faced off in a pool opener in 2019, the then-fancied Scots imploding 3-27 in Yokohama and going on to make a pool exit with a follow-up loss to host nation Japan.
Another World Cup group loss to Ireland and it will be au revoir for Graham and co at France 2023. “Fingers crossed,” he said, hopeful there won’t be a repeat of four years ago when Scotland failed to fire a shot against Ireland despite being backed to give it a proper lash.
“It’s going to be a hell of a game next week, isn’t it? It’s do or die, it’s a World Cup final for pretty much both teams, so it’s going to be a brutal game, it’s going to be a physical game and it’s going to be one hell of a game.
“The fans will be getting into the game. The fans were incredible the last two games. They have been in numbers the Scottish fans, so it will hopefully be the same again from them next week.”
With that, it was time for the smiling Graham to grab his things in the dressing room and make the bus back to Scotland’s Lille hotel before Sunday’s trip to base camp in Nice. Next weekend’s moment of truth in Paris beckons. The watching world can’t wait.
The dazzling feet of Darcy Graham 💨#RWC2023 | #SCOvROM pic.twitter.com/u129lCQO6p
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 30, 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
Imagine you kick to the lineout, they give away a free kick, you have a great chance at a scrum, sorry sir you have to tap and go. Ridiculous
10 Go to commentsWhile I believe that the Crusaders do not deserve a spot in the playoffs, every single team would be worried to play them no matter where on the table they are. For example, they have the potential to knock out the Blues at Eden Park. They are the Springboks in Super Rugby in that they know exactly how to play knockout footy and have the pedigree and experience to do it. Something is just not quite right with that team this year. Fakatava is prone to to the odd brain explosion and can kick away good ball in bad positions. His work around the ruck and breakdown is a standout. Is he better than Finlay Christie? I’m not sure. TJ Perenara and Cortez Ratima should get two of the spots in the ABs squad. Aumua has so much potential but the midfield is quite well stocked with Jordie, ALB, Tupaea, and Ioane as well as Billy Proctor who is in top form. Aumua would be battling a spot with Tupaea and Proctor.
1 Go to commentsWhy do some Bok fans get so defensive when people have opinions on how the game should be played? Is it really necessary to take it as a personal attack on SA every time?
10 Go to commentsMost crazy rule is when attacking player has to release but defender does not. Stop the defender doing that by saying hands off. That way fender would not kill the ball. Madness and crazy
80 Go to commentsMinicamp rules include no-pads and no tackling.
1 Go to commentsToulouse has enough quality players so no headaches 😁 Choco is rarely a starting centre. Throughout this championship there have been far worse actions that were never called… too many rules, too many rule changes, too many inconsistencies, too many angry fans. I'm not surprised rugby does not attract new spectators, how could they understand 🤣
6 Go to commentsAh yes Andy with his “Goode” views. Oke might as well come out and say it, “I like seeing South African scrums depowered in order to give the rest of the world a chance”. Somehow he thinks World Rugby always knew about calling scrums from marks and it just so happened to coincide with Damien Willemse’s call that they decided to change the rules. Ah come on, if he can't see it then he needs prescription glasses. No ways, they are doing this for the betterment of Rugby. They want to clamp down on Rassie’s innovative skills than encouraging coaches to think outside of the box to try new things. What they can't count on is what Rassie will plan next. I almost get the impression that once Rassie retires World Rugby is going to be scrabbling around trying to find their identity. Currently set at ARP (Anti-Rassie Party). Although I don't really care in that regard because they always a RWC step behind.
10 Go to commentsWow ten years since they had a backing and more from the paying public I’d also mention that as a blues man and in walking distance to the garden I’d say that this team and Vern Cotter have got us dreaming beautiful thoughts and the merit is there from numbers 1 to 23 but we would like to think this is the new dna for the ABs and a pack weighing 940kg dry y not I hasten to add it seems patty has to stay fit cause he is the driver the main driver and they follow plus the pipe man H Plummer is conducting his own orchestra ….. Beethoven anybody
1 Go to commentsJuicy stuff well covered I’d go as far as to say that the referee was a key component in keeping it a tasty spectacle
1 Go to commentsCotter has added that steel that has been missing. Let's see if it will carry until the Finals… Come on the Blues ….
2 Go to commentsAndy Goode just loves to be controversial. Its boring. Let’s all stop reading.
10 Go to commentsYou have got to consider that if the situation was flipped and the French were held to a salary cap with no English equivalent, the English would laugh in their faces and tell them to get over it. As for Leinster (as a fan), the central contract system is a dream but is guilty of cutting out the other 3 provinces. At the end of the day, it comes across outside of the English border that the Premiership is drowning and trying to take everyone else with it rather than adapt. The English lose, the English want new rules. We've seen this repeat (and once it even led to the current Champions Cup) You make many good and informed points, but if the flip was on the other flop, it wouldn't be Rugby’s problem I suspect - it would be a French one.
18 Go to commentsSeems to have been a bright start but it tailed off. To win the big matches you have to get used to putting your foot on the throttle and your opponent’s necks in an 80 minutes performance which is what the All Blacks were renowned for. An example in the Women’s game is England v Ireland in the 6N match played at Twickenham in April. Watch on YouTube.
1 Go to commentsBobby has been a first grade bonehead since high school. Like a true Cape Tonian, his own reflection is more important than anything else.
1 Go to commentsNo comment on the textbook red card for Ramm that was just ignored? Amazing that
4 Go to commentsThese rule changes have been implemented with good intentions, but much like every other rule change focus on isolated symptoms instead of the root cause. If you cannot croc roll, and cannot risk any head contact with a front on clear out, it is not clear how you are supposed to lawfully clear someone out who is attempting a jackal. This will backfire massively and lead to substantially more kicking. Teams will simply not want to take the ball into contact. Or it will lead to even more dangerous methods to clear players out who are over the ball. I much prefer having the set piece on a 30 second shot clock over no scrum on a short arm infringement. Resets are not a problem in themselves, but 90 second water and tactics breaks before every scrum are a big problem. Trainers constantly coming on to the field to help players pull their socks up and delaying the game are a problem. DuPont law was a blight on the game and should have been changed the day after it was first implemented.
80 Go to commentsAh yes, the opinion of Andy Goode… Andy Goode, the man who knows what some of the Irish players said to Eben Etzebeth after the QF, better than what Eben himself knows. And, judging by this piece, the Grandmaster of clichés.
10 Go to commentsI think this is a fair view. As a South African I am concerned about the depowering of the scrum but let’s be honest, until the SA vs FRA quarter many people didn’t even know you could take a scrum from a free kick. As you say it’s going to come down to interpretation… until then we don’t really know how this is going to impact the game. That would lead to my own objection. Do the unknowns of changing a law outweigh the cons of said law. With such an obscure law that most people had never heard of, one that had never really had an impact on the game in the first place is it worth changing to invite so much uncertainty. Better the devil you know then the devil you don’t as it were…
10 Go to comments162 comments so far and counting. i didn't realize that rugby fans are on the way to join the football brothers. what is the point to share personal opinion only to get all this shi*? it seems IRB bosses are doing the great job by killing the spirit of the game both on and outside the pitch. too sad, indeed. btw, was there anything on eben’s point of view from the boys in green, who he mentioned?
164 Go to commentsJob done guys. Great win in a game where things can quickly go wrong.
1 Go to comments