Graham smile says it all but Boks offer stiffer Test

Darcy Graham scored four tries in Scotland's opening autumn series win

After missing a year of Test rugby through injury, Darcy Graham wore a smile as wide as Murrayfield following a scintillating individual display against Fiji that reminded Scotland exactly what they had been missing.

The electric winger, 27, bagged four tries and injected the sort of pace, creativity and unpredictably that encapsulates what this team is at its best.

Scotland at their best in recent years have tended to have Graham in the thick of the action, and if they are to spring shocks on the Springboks next weekend, the Hawick man will likely need to come to the fore again.

Graham beamed as he spoke to BBC Scotland after the game: "It wasn't bad, was it?

"I loved pulling that jersey back on."

You will go a long way to find a player more passionate about representing his country than Graham, but in the hell of his injury struggles of the past 12 months, doubts started to creep in as to whether he would ever make it back to the Test arena.

"When you're out that long, you start wondering when it's going to happen again, if it's going to happen again," he said.

"You have doubts in your head, but I'm just chuffed to be back. The next thing for me is to chase that 50th cap - that's my boyhood dream."

Graham’s four scores took his Test return to 28 tries in 40 Tests – a record to stand alongside the best in international rugby.

His fourth try drew him level with Duhan van der Merwe as Scotland’s record try scorer, until his Edinburgh team-mate notched his 29th international try late in the game.

"I joined him for five minutes," Graham laughed. "It's good fun, good competition between me and Duhi. We'll take it [the record] all the way into the 30s I reckon."

While the laughs and jokes after such a resounding victory were well earned, Graham and his team-mates know the serious stuff is coming when the world champions roll into town next Sunday.

Scotland will be stronger. Finn Russell will be back, as will Ben White and Blair Kinghorn. Three class acts that immediately bring up the level of the whole team.

It’s tempting to get carried away with the attacking potential of that back-line restored to full strength. Then your mind wanders back to Marseille and last year’s Rugby World Cup opener.

All Scotland’s big guns were there, but the firepower failed to fire at all as they were suffocated by the ferocious South African blitz defence.

Russell is probably still having nightmares about Pieter-Steph du Toit. Every time Scotland’s pivot got his hands on the ball and looked up to assess the options outside him, all he found staring back at him was the giant figure of Du Toit blocking all roads out of town.

'Masterpiece required for Scots to halt South Africa'

South Africa dismantled the Scots’ attacking game that day and the stuff that did for Fiji will not scratch the surface in breaking down the Boks. Scotland need to come up with something different, a plan to beat the blitz, and execute it to perfection.

"We’ve got to get our heads around our own game," captain Sione Tuipulotu told BBC Scotland.

"The elephant in the room is that the world champions are in town next week and we get a free swing at them. It’s a unique opportunity."

On an otherwise positive day, the eight-try demolition of Fiji did throw up a few concerns for the Scotland coaches.

Kyle Rowe looks set to miss the South Africa match after picking up a hamstring injury and Graham failed a head injury assessment after leaving the field in the second half. After seeing him back to his dazzling best, Scotland fans will be praying he gets the all clear for next weekend.

Ewan Ashman faces a nervous wait to see if he is cited for a head-on-head collision that was missed by the officials in real time. Given he had already been yellow-carded earlier in the match, he was very fortunate to remain on the field.

Let’s see if his luck continues, but there is a very real chance Scotland will have to go with Dylan Richardson – it’s hard to see the inexperienced Patrick Harrison being pitched in – from the start against the Boks.

Scotland will have to find a level of performance greater than anything they have produced in Gregor Townsend’s seven-year tenure if they are to topple the back-to-back world champions, but Graham’s barnstorming return to Test rugby offers just a glimpse of hope that maybe, just maybe, they can shock the world.

Townsend said of Graham’s performance: "Brilliant, wasn’t it?

"He’s so good here, so good with that Scotland jersey on. He’s so hard to read because he doesn’t offer the same picture every time."

Graham painted a pretty picture against Fiji. It’s a masterpiece that’s required if Scotland are to halt the juggernaut heading for Murrayfield on Sunday.