Graham on a high after debut try

Defeat to Wales on Saturday was the latest disappointment for the Scots’ Guinness Six Nations campaign as they slumped to their third defeat on the bounce.

But the sight of Graham going over for his first international try on his full debut against Warren Gatland’s Grand Slam chasers was a rare highlight in what has been a bruising Championship for Gregor Townsend’s team so far.

The diminutive Edinburgh wing finished off a fine team move as the Dark Blues threatened to pull of a remarkable second-half fightback, only to come up short as they fell to an 18-11 defeat.

For a team that had hopes of making a run for the title, one win from four games so far tells a sorry story.

But Graham can hold his head high after an impressive display on his first international start and the 21-year-old said he will cherish the memories for years to come.

“I really enjoyed it at the weekend,” said the Hawick-born youngster. “I want more. Definitely.

“To score my first try on my debut at Murrayfield was a really proud moment. Since I’ve been a little boy, scoring at Murrayfield was all I ever wanted to do.

“It was just disappointing that we came up a bit short and didn’t get the win. The moment I scored will definitely stay with me for a long time, though.

“I can take confidence from scoring that try. It’s great too knowing now that Gregor has the trust in me to give me a start.

“I suppose I’m in a different place from the rest of the boys. I’m just going out trying to take it one game at a time, I’m not really looking at the overall Championship.

“In the back of my mind we all do want to do well for Scotland. But by me doing well on the pitch hopefully that will lead to Scotland doing well in the Six Nations in future.”

Injuries handed Graham his chance against Wales as Sean Maitland was ruled out for last weekend’s clash.

Now he looks set to retain his slot for Saturday’s Twickenham trip after it was confirmed Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Blair Kinghorn – the back three which started against Italy in the Scots’ opening game – will miss the meeting with Eddie Jones’ England.

He has some big shoes to fill but Graham is up for the challenge.

He said: “Injuries have killed us this year and made it quite difficult. No team wants that.

“It was such a physical game on Saturday and we picked up a few niggles. That just made it even harder for us.

“Guys like Tommy and Stuart Hogg have been great for me. Tommy especially with us both playing on the wing. Hoggy is another Hawick boy too so we’re quite close.

“I’ve just been trying to follow up from where Hoggy and the others left off. They were playing really well and I just want to build on their performances and take confidence from that.”

The Scots are heading back to London for the first time since 2017’s humiliating seven-try pasting from the Auld Enemy and Graham said: “We’re going to Twickenham looking to get the win. It’s Scotland against England, a massive game.

“England are a great side. We were left hurting by what happened down there last time.

“It’s never nice to lose that way and we’re still hurting, so we want to make amends.

“I was actually playing for the Under-20s that day. As we were warming up the match was on the big screen. I remember glancing up at the score. It wasn’t the best motivation before our match.

“We hope to put in a full 80-minute performance. We haven’t quite managed that during the campaign so far and we owe that to the fans. We’ll see how we go.”