Scotland coach provides fitness update on key duo ahead of All Blacks clash after 'big loss' of injured pair

Scotland coach Peter Horne has confirmed that Darcy Graham and Matt Fagerson are both in contention to face New Zealand at Murrayfield this weekend.

Edinburgh winger Graham didn’t play for his club last week due to a calf issue, while Glasgow Warriors back row Fagerson has been unavailable since picking up a minor groin strain in their URC win over Connacht at the start of October. However, both have trained fully and are ‘good to go’ following the blow to the national team that saw flanker Jamie Ritchie and prop Elliot Millar Mills withdraw from the group.

“Darcy trained fully today,” said Horne. “He was looking great, so we're really pleased with that. He's recovered really well. [Fagerson] trained fully last week as well, so he's good to go.”

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On the injuries to Ritchie and Millar Mills, the skills and contact coach added: “Bless Jamie. He's just had no luck recently. It's been one injury to another.

“Sometimes you have little spells like that in your career. Unfortunately, it's part of the game, isn't it? Jamie's well-versed in that.

“He's had a few of them in his time. But he's a resilient man as well, he's been there before. It'll hurt for a couple of weeks, no doubt, especially when he's watching the games from home or whatever but he’ll be fine.

“Elliot is another big loss. He’s been in really good form this year, playing a lot more rugby for Newcastle. It's always the same in the last couple of weeks before camp. You're watching the games through your fingers. So we’re disappointed for those lads, but apart from that, we've got a pretty clean bill of health, thankfully.”

The pair’s withdrawal resulted in a first call up for 20-year-old tight-head Ollie Blyth-Lafferty plus Edinburgh teammates D’arcy Rae (prop) and Freddy Douglas (flanker). Sale Sharks scrum-half Gus Warr has also linked up with the group along with Glasgow Warriors full-back Josh McKay, who will be eligible to play for Scotland against Japan on November 21.

With those changes now made, the full focus turns to this Saturday’s Nations Championship Test match. Horne had one crack at the mighty All Blacks as a player, losing 22-17 back in 2017 in a game best remembered for a late Stuart Hogg break that came agonisingly close to a winning score in stoppage time.

The former Glasgow man remembers the match well and how it ‘sums up’ New Zealand as a rugby nation, saying: “ I remember Hoggy breaking through at the end and thinking we've done it, we've won the game. Then Beauden Barrett just came on fast-forward out of absolutely nowhere.

“That kind of sums up New Zealand. They're never beat. You have to beat them three, four times. They will hustle so hard. They're obviously really proud of their record against us too.

“I remember the occasion before the game as well. It's funny, at the time you probably don't appreciate it, but once you're retired and further removed from it, you look back, and what a day that was. Doddie [Weir] coming out before the game, presenting the match ball and the emotions. It was awesome. It was such a cool night, a cool occasion.

“I only got that one opportunity to do it. It was just the coolest feeling going up against these guys that you'd almost have them on a bit of a pedestal at times when you're younger. It was awesome getting stuck in and enjoying that experience, it was every three or four years.

“The fact that we played them last year, the boys have had that experience, we'll play them again and it'll be class going over to New Zealand in a year and we'll be playing that game too. It makes it a bit more exciting but a bit more normal as well for the boys.”

“They’re a different beast” - 2017 too far gone for Scotland lessons as Horne praises currently crop of players

The 37-year old added how that game was too long ago to take anything from it leading up to this weekend, and that the squad are a ‘different beast’ compared to his playing days, saying: “If anything we'll look back on last year's game because there's a lot we can take from that. Any further back than that is a totally different era. There are a couple of boys that were maybe involved in that [2017], but this team that we have now is a completely different team.

“They're a different beast to the teams that I played in. The amount of talent that we've got in the room now is exciting. Hopefully we can enjoy this one at the weekend and take another step forward.”

Horne also passed his condolences on to everyone associated with Saturday’s opponents following the sudden and tragic news that their head of security, Logan Cadwallader, had passed away in Edinburgh. He said: “I can only imagine what they must be going through just now. Our thoughts go out to the All Blacks camp and of course Logan's family as well.”

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