‘Against Fiji Scotland deployed their wings of power’

You may have heard of the TV series, The Rings of Power? Against Fiji, Scotland deployed their wings of power in the shape of Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham.

This pair could easily be Lord of the Rings characters. Darcy is like a hobbit. No, not because he is short of stature but because he’s fleet of foot, hard to catch and turns up where you least expect him. Duhan is more like an elf. Mysterious, hard to fathom but also pretty nifty.

On Saturday the wingers both made their contribution to the cause in their own inimitable style. Graham popped up everywhere and bounced off opponents like they were magnets of the same pole. Van der Merwe hugged the left wing and got his reward in the second half thanks to the great work of Adam Hastings and Huw Jones.

As a result, Van der Merwe kept his lead as top scorer in the all-time Scotland try-scoring chart and Darcy’s four tries saw him leapfrog Stuart Hogg into second place and close the gap to the top. The pair are also vying for top all-time scorer at Edinburgh albeit Tim Visser’s total (69) may just be a step too far for both. Despite the fact that Darcy is behind Duhan at club level (36 v 44) as well as at international level, the Hawick man may eventually overhaul him in both categories.

Whoever does end up top of the tree for Scotland will probably hold that record for a considerable time. The next closest active player on the list is Huw Jones with 19. Darcy has more strings to his bow than his teammate and his work rate alone could be a decisive factor.

It’s a side contest that both would deny exists but it’s fun to hype it up and more tries hopefully also means wins for both Edinburgh and Scotland.