Darcy Graham explains where it is going wrong for Edinburgh Rugby and has say on fans

It has been a frustrating season for Edinburgh in general and Darcy Graham in particular but the Scotland winger is grateful the supporters have stood by them.

Hive Stadium was sold-out on Friday as the capital side followed up last week’s narrow win over Zebre with an impressive 33-28 victory over the Sharks. It was the first time this season that Edinburgh have won back-to-back in the United Rugby Championship.

Unfortunately, it’s too late for them to make the play-offs and they have nothing but pride to play for with two rounds remaining of the regular season.

Edinburgh's Darcy Graham runs through to score his side's fifth try during the BKT United Rugby Championship win over Hollywoodbet Sharks at Hive Stadium. | SNS Group

Graham was back among the tries on Friday, and it was a good one too as he exchanged passes with Piers O’Conor before dotting down under the posts. It was his first at the Hive for more than six months and he admitted he’s not seeing the ball as much as he would like.

Move the ball wide

“It’s been very frustrating,” he said of Edinburgh’s season. “Frustrating because we aren’t fulfilling our potential. We are saying the right things, we are doing the right things in training but we are lacking that... it’s not confidence, it’s maybe the ability to move the ball wide and get ourselves on the ball. It is something we have to look hard at over the break, pre-season, and to see how we can build on it.”

With wingers of the quality of Graham and Duhan van der Merwe, it’s incumbent on Edinburgh to involve them as much as possible and the signing of Hurricanes’ Riley Higgins for next season should help. Graham admitted he didn’t know too much about the Scotland-qualified centre but had heard good things about him from team-mate Wes Goosen.

Edinburgh now have a free weekend before returning for their final two URC games, against Dragons away and Ulster at home on May 9 and 15. It is not the season they wanted but Graham is glad the fans have stuck by them.

Darcy Graham celebrates his try with Edinburgh team-mate Hector Patterson. | SNS Group

“Last week we talked about getting the fans back on side,” he said. “We have seen that in the last two games. The first one was not quite a sell-out but was a top crowd for an Italian team and then a sell-out on Friday night. So the fans are still on our side and when we put in a performance like that it makes a difference.

Another new signing

“At the start of the season when I looked at the fixtures I thought, we have a really good run of home games but it’s only good if you are in the fight. So we have kind of lost that but if we can build and get four out of four here it makes our pre-season totally different and we can take that momentum into the pre-season and into the first game but we still have a long way to go.”

Meanwhile, Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt has confirmed the club has completed a deal to sign scrum-half Louie Chapman. New Zealand-born but Scottish-qualified, Chapman, 25, plays Super Rugby for Crusaders and in the National Provincial Championship for Canterbury.

He will come to Scotland after the NPC finishes, or earlier if an agreement can be reached.

“We’re pleased to get him across the line,” said Everitt. “We need strength in the specialist positions, and he does add to that depth.”

He’s Edinburgh’s third new signing in the last week following Higgins and Geordie Gwynn, the former Scotland U20 wing/centre who will join from Ealing Trailfinders in the summer.