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Michael Hooper weighs in on Jac Morgan clear-out
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Luckless Scotland wing Darcy Graham to miss rest of the season
By Bryn Palmer
Edinburgh have confirmed Scotland wing Darcy Graham will undergo surgery on a groin injury next week and is likely to miss the rest of the season.
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It is the latest setback for the 26-year-old, who had already been ruled out of the Six Nations Championship for the second straight season with his latest issue.
Graham returned to training recently after recovering from a quadriceps injury and had hoped to prove his fitness in time to feature for Scotland against England last Saturday.
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But he then picked up a groin problem and after receiving specialist advice from a surgeon this week, has now been booked in for an operation.
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt confirmed Graham was facing a “three-to-four month” absence.
The club’s last regular-season fixture in the United Rugby Championship is on 1 June, three months from now, although the wing could potentially still feature in the current campaign if Edinburgh were to progress to the end-of-season play-offs.
“Darcy has seen a surgeon and he is going to be out long term,” Everitt said. “We’re hoping that he’ll be back in at the tail end of the season, but there’s nothing definite.
“It will be frustrating for Darcy. We know that he’s proud of the club he plays for and he loves having the opportunity to play for his country.
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“When he went down with that injury last week he was really training well and looking forward to being in contention against England so one can imagine the disappointment that he’s going through at the moment.
“But we’re also aware that in the game we’re in, these things happen, it’s the nature of the sport. He accepts what needs to be done and he’ll be very relieved when he’s back to full fitness and doesn’t have to carry these niggles with him throughout the season.”
Graham, joint-third on Scotland’s all-time try-scoring list with 24 in 39 Tests, missed last season’s Six Nations after tearing knee ligaments playing for Edinburgh in December 2022.
He returned in time to feature in Scotland’s pre-World Cup warm-up Tests and scored five tries at the tournament in France, only to suffer a hip injury in their final pool game against Ireland.
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That led to a further two months on the sidelines, a period which also saw him have a screw removed from his knee from his previous injury.
When he returned to action for Edinburgh in December, Graham admitted his knee had been “giving him bother” for the past 12 months and there were times he was in “constant pain” and relying on painkillers to get through training and matches.
But after four games back, the livewire wing – who recently agreed a new contract with Edinburgh until the 2027 World Cup – suffered a quad issue in mid-January and is now facing another frustrating period on the sidelines after his latest setback.
“He is an explosive athlete, as we all know, and he’s got good feet, so he is at risk of getting injuries,” said Everitt. “I think it is bad luck. I have coached many players in the past who are just injury prone and sometimes it just goes away after a period of time.
“I just feel it is important that at this stage in his career that he gets time to sort out the niggles he has been carrying over a period of time.
“We all know the pressures of the World Cup, the pressure that was on to play in that tournament and get the best possible result, but there is an opportunity now for Darcy to use this time to get better, and if need be take the rest of this season plus the pre-season to build himself up into top form.
“Darcy is 26 years old, we’ve signed him long term at the club, we all know that he is world class when he is on top of his game, so it is vitally important for him as an individual that we look after his wellbeing other than the physical side of his performance.
“A player who is in a good state of mind and injury free is a player who is going to perform week in and week out.”
Asked if Graham had perhaps pushed himself too hard in his quest to play some part in the Six Nations, Everitt added: “I wouldn’t say it was that. It is just that he is a competitive human being so when he is out on the field, he gives everything that he can. And how you see him play on a Saturday is how he trains during the week.
“They have been different injuries. When he came out of the World Cup he also had to have on object removed from his knee. It is just unfortunate for him that it has been a string of injuries in a row, and sometimes players go through that.
“I can use Pat Lambie as an example. When I was coaching at the Sharks, Pat got injured four Super Rugby tournaments in a row within the first four weeks of the campaign, so that does happen.
“Fortunately for Darcy, these injuries are reparable and we look forward to seeing him back to his best.”
Everitt also provided an update on flanker Luke Crosbie, who suffered a shoulder injury in Scotland’s opening Six Nations match against Wales and is likely to remain out of action until at least April.
“Luke probably won’t be fit for our South Africa tour (URC matches against Stormers and Sharks in late March), unfortunately, but he is feeling a lot better,” he added.
“An AC joint is a complicated injury because sometimes you get all your movement back and then you get a whack on the shoulder and the injury returns so we’ve got to be careful how we manage him.
“We don’t need to rush him back, we’ve got depth in that department. We want to give Luke every opportunity to get back to full fitness so he can compete in the latter part of the season.”
