'I couldn’t live on painkillers': How latest Graham injury was a blessing in disguise
Darcy Graham has revealed he is finally free of the “constant pain” he has endured for the past year since damaging knee ligaments in December 2022.
The Edinburgh and Scotland winger had a one-inch screw inserted into his knee 12 months ago as part of an operation to create a “fake MCL” after tearing his medial collateral ligament in a URC match against Munster.
Graham, 26, was in the form of his life at the time, having scored 13 tries in 10 games for club and country, including nine in six for Edinburgh, to that point last season.
He was sidelined for over three months, missing the entire Six Nations, and returned at the tail end of Edinburgh’s underwhelming 2022-23 campaign, racking up another three tries in four games.
When the Rugby World Cup warm-up games came around, it was like he’d never been away – with three more tries in Scotland’s first two outings against Italy and France. Five more followed – including four in an 84-0 rout of Romania – in four games at the global tournament, before he was forced off early in the second half of Scotland’s final pool match against Ireland with a hip injury.
It wasn’t the way Graham wanted his – or Scotland’s – campaign to end, but it has proved something of a blessing in disguise. While recuperating from the hip issue, he took the chance to have the screw – which he keeps in his bedroom as a reminder – removed from his right knee.
“My knee has been giving me bother for over a year,” he explained. “I got my operation this time last year and it has never been right since then.
“They put a fake MCL in over the top to give my real MCL time to heal. When they took the fake MCL and screw out, my normal MCL had healed fully. It is solid as a rock now. Everything is fine, back to normal.
“I was killing two birds with one stone. I knew my hip would be a while, so I got my knee sorted out at the same time. I got the screw taken out and that allows me to run more freely now. I am not in constant pain anymore. I can walk upstairs now and not be in pain. I don’t wake up in the middle of night feeling sore anymore. My overall life is a lot better.“
Graham might still have been running in the tries – he had scored 11 in 10 games since returning to action last summer by the end of Scotland’s World Cup campaign – but behind the scenes he was having to nurse himself through the weeks leading up to matches.
“It did not affect me in games, it was more training wise,” he said. “I was so sore and it took me a lot to get warmed up and I found training quite hard.
“If you don’t train to full intensity, especially at international level and in the World Cup, you don’t get the best out of yourself. Even here at club level, if you don’t train at 100 per cent, you can’t kick on. So yes, it probably did affect me (during the World Cup).
“I wouldn’t say I was any worse than I had been. I was average. I had more in me, but I had been carrying that knee pain for 11 months so it was always going to affect me.
“As soon as I got onto medication and painkillers, I was fine, I didn’t feel it. But I couldn’t live on painkillers and medication all the time. That was the reason we decided to take the screw out.”
With his knee fully operational again, Graham was initially scheduled to make his comeback against Ulster a fortnight ago, but his hip still “wasn’t great”. “We had to inject it so that pushed me back a bit,” he said.
Graham finally put two months of frustration behind him when he was named on the bench for Saturday’s Champions Cup pool match against Castres.
The plan was for him to get 20 to 30 minutes to ease himself back in. But when young Edinburgh full-back Harry Paterson was forced off after just 10 minutes for an HIA following a head-high tackle which earned Castres centre Andrea Cocagi a red card, Graham was thrust straight back into the fray.
“It was just the way it worked out,” he added. “I was planning for those 20, 30 minutes but the way things went, I was happy to stay on that for the rest of that half.
“Minutes are key for me just now. I need to get them in with the Six Nations just round the corner and the two big Glasgow games coming up, so I am glad I got that run out. I feel sharp enough. I didn’t get much ball in hand as the wind made it difficult, especially when we were playing into it, it was tough going. But I was glad to be out on the pitch with the boys again. It feels like forever since I was last here.
“I just need to get back to full match fitness now and work hard at training. Harry Paterson, Duhan [van der Merwe] and Wes Goosen are playing unbelievable just now so there is real pressure there. I have to prove myself.”
Graham might have capped his comeback with a second-half try, but Van der Merwe – with a simple scoring pass to Graham on offer – opted to batter through the last Castres defender and score a second try himself. “He finished it, so it is all good,” Graham smirked.
With the first two rounds of European action negotiated, Edinburgh’s attention now turns to a festive double-header against Scottish rivals Glasgow, with the first leg of their annual 1872 Cup contest at Scotstoun on Friday, before the return leg at Murrayfield on 30 December.
“It is a massive part of the season,” Graham added. “It is huge for the Scottish fans. They love seeing us go head to head and there is a lot on the line. Last season they cost us a top-eight spot because Glasgow won both of them.
“We need to go to Glasgow all guns blazing. It’s not that we don’t like them. We are playing our best mates, especially in a World Cup year where we have lived with each other for 19 weeks. So we have to flick that switch, but we can do that quite easily.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
2 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
2 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
10 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
10 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
10 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
3 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
3 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
3 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
3 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to comments