{"id":467490,"date":"2026-03-10T09:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/467490\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:10:13","slug":"darcy-graham-insists-ireland-there-for-the-taking-against-scotand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/467490\/","title":{"rendered":"Darcy Graham insists Ireland ‘there for the taking’ against Scotand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n And he believes Ireland are \u201cthere for the taking\u201d as Scotland<\/a> aim to end an 11-match winless run in the fixture that stretches back to before Gregor Townsend<\/a> took charge nine years ago.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “They’ve probably not been firing as well as they have in previous campaigns.\u00a0They’re\u00a0still a world-class team.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt’s\u00a0a difficult place to go.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0never been there and won, but confidence is right up there.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe’ll go\u00a0there\u00a0all guns blazing.”\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Graham will also go full of confidence after a stand-out performance against the French.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n For the first time in his career, Graham moved clear of Edinburgh Rugby<\/a> team-mate Duhan van der Merwe<\/a> with two tries in the sensational\u00a050-40 win\u00a0that has given Scotland a fighting chance of a first title since the final Five Nations back in 1999.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n They can also win a first Triple Crown since the 1990 Grand Slam heroes if they beat Ireland in Dublin.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The 1990 triumph was sealed by a try from winger Tony Stanger who, like Graham, is from Hawick and Graham wants to write his own piece of Scottish rugby history.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cHopefully I can repeat it next weekend,\u201d he said when asked about the prospect of adding a famous score to that of Stanger racing onto Gavin Hastings\u2019 kick against England<\/a> 36 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Graham was also basking in the glory of taking the try record, with his 36th\u00a0and 37th\u00a0tries moving him clear of Van der Merwe.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI’ve always caught\u00a0Duhi, I’ve never went past him, so it’s the first time I’ve gone past him and I’m buzzing,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n And the 28-year-old admitted the seven-try victory over a Grand Slam-chasing France<\/a> was\u00a0almost the\u00a0perfect afternoon for Scotland.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u00a0were chasing that ultimate\u00a0performance\u00a0[and] it was\u00a0definitely up\u00a0there, that win was huge for us.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “Our attack was up there.\u00a0That’s\u00a0probably the\u00a0best\u00a0it’s\u00a0ever been. We were clinical, we took our opportunities.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\n<\/p>\n

\n Scotland scored four tries,\u00a0with Ben White<\/a>, Kyle Steyn<\/a>,\u00a0Graham\u00a0and Tom Jordan<\/a> all crossing in a stunning nine-minute period after the break to\u00a0take the game away from the previously all-conquering French.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n And the winger admitted he had to pinch himself during that devastating spell but said confidence has always\u00a0remained\u00a0strong within the squad despite the disappointment of the opening round defeat to Italy<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “We’ve built the confidence.\u00a0Obviously, Italy put a downer on things, but if I had been a dry day, the game would have been\u00a0totally different.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think we\u00a0trust in our ability to go out there and do what we do. Obviously,\u00a0we’ve\u00a0not done things quite right on the day against Italy, but I feel like\u00a0we’ve\u00a0done that for the next few games. Belief is right up there. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cConfidence is the highest\u00a0I’ve ever had in a Scotland\u00a0campaign.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The winger also\u00a0knows Ireland will not afford the Scots the same attacking freedom as they were given by Les\u00a0Bleus\u00a0but Graham wants Scotland to\u00a0be true to themselves in Dublin.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think\u00a0we’re\u00a0going to stick to our principles of playing rugby and moving the ball,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Ireland is the one that the fans really want to knock off, is it the same for\u00a0you guys?\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “Yes, for sure. Personally,\u00a0it’s\u00a0one\u00a0I’m\u00a0really excited for. I would love to get a win. I think it would be massive. I’ve never beaten Ireland, so it would be huge to go over there and win over them.”\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Andy Farrell\u2019s side have not hit the heights of their pre-2023 Rugby World Cup displays, when they were the world\u2019s number one side and won a three-match series in New Zealand.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Their best performance of the campaign came against England at Twickenham in round three, but they have stumbled past Italy and Wales<\/a>, and Scotland will fancy their chances of a first win on Irish soil since 2010 when Dan Parks kicked the winning points at Croke Park.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n No Scottish side has ever won at the rebuilt Aviva Stadium.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n While earlier\u00a0stating\u00a0he feels Ireland have not been at their best, Graham admitted when they are, Farrell\u2019s side are \u201cworld class at everything they\u00a0do\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “They’ve\u00a0got their system and it works for them. Everybody buys into that, so\u00a0it’s\u00a0very hard\u00a0to break them down, especially when their fans get on top of you.\u00a0It’s\u00a0a difficult place to go.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey’re a pretty complete team.”\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n But the winger allowed himself the briefest of moments to dream into the future when asked what it would mean to win the Six Nations<\/a>, if Scotland can get the job done and England can pull off\u00a0a monumental\u00a0upset over France in Paris.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “Now you’re talking,\u201d he responded.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat would be a dream come true.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0said from the start of my career that\u00a0I’d\u00a0be gutted if I went the whole career and\u00a0didn’t\u00a0win something big.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “When I see the boys, especially Blair, the success he’s had out in France winning the double, I’m jealous of that. I would love to do that. It would be a dream come true.”\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n He may have hit new heights as Scotland\u2019s record try\u00a0scorer, but\u00a0Graham is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n “I’m\u00a0not getting ahead of myself,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is up to us now, so we’ll go over there next week and see what we can do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And he believes Ireland are \u201cthere for the taking\u201d as Scotland aim to end an 11-match winless run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-467490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}