'Like Jason Robinson' - high praise for Scotland star compared to England all-time great

It’s high praise given the winger was in the form of his life when he damaged knee ligaments playing for Edinburgh in December that year, setting off a chain of injuries which sidelined him for most of the next two seasons.

Graham, 27, was able to play in the 2023 Rugby World Cup but missed the Six Nations either side of the global jamboree. He returned to the Scotland side for this season’s autumn Tests but felt he could have performed better, which was music to the ears of Townsend.

The national coach believes Graham is adding new facets to his game and even likened him to Jason Robinson, the England World Cup-winning winger who was a thorn in Scotland’s side in the Noughties.

“It's brilliant to hear that after November he thought he could have done much more,” said Townsend. “He is developing that wider game, that ball-playing ability, his aerial skills too. It's something that he feels not only can improve but can really be another weapon for him with the attacking kicks that you can get through more.

“Darcy brings so much, excites the crowd but also inspires his team-mates. His work and contact, his bravery, it has an influence, it's infectious. We really hope that he gets some luck with injuries this year and has a full Six Nations.”

He is due some good fortune. The last couple of seasons have seen Graham ruled out by knee, quad and groin issues but Townsend believes the Edinburgh winger retains his elasticity, elusiveness and devastating pace.

“I'm trying to think of another player that has that ability to stop, start, bounce out,” said Townsend. “There was a massive tackle, it was against Black Lion, he gets knocked back and he actually makes a break from it because he goes backwards and then goes forward. Someone like Jason Robinson springs to mind, that ability, the same physical dimensions, he was so hard to defend and I'm sure Darcy is a nightmare to defend for opposition.”

With Graham on one wing, Duhan van der Merwe on the other and Blair Kinghorn at full-back, Scotland have plenty of potency with which to attack Italy. Van der Merwe, Scotland’s all-time top try-scorer (on 30, one ahead of Graham), has recovered from an ankle injury and is flying in training, according to Townsend.

“He's good, he had a little rest last week,” said the coach. “He missed last week's training but he's trained fully this week. He's recorded the top speed out of any player in training, just looking at the GPS reports over the last couple of days, so he's been good. He had that ankle [injury] that he picked up, he wasn't able to train with Edinburgh, we thought he'd be back training last week but it required another few days of rest and treatment but he's been good to go since Sunday, Monday.”

A first defeat by Italy in nine years last season remains fresh in the minds of the Scots and the Azzurri also ran Townsend’s side close at Murrayfield in 2023 before Kinghorn’s late try sealed a home win.

“They're a confident team in terms of the wins that they've delivered together,” said Townsend. “They're a fit team: we know two years ago they were pushing us right to the end and then last year they were very good in that second half out in Rome. They play a brand of rugby which is ... you can call it intelligent, you can call it pragmatic, but it's very structured.

“But also they have the individual talent and the ambition to move the ball wide too. And they'll be physical, they'll look to compete hard at the breakdown, so yeah, we're expecting a top-quality opposition like we'll get throughout this championship.”

Tommaso Allan, the former Scotland Under-20 international, returns for Italy after missing last year’s Six Nations but will start at full-back at Murrayfield rather than stand-off. It means star man Ange Capuozzo will switch to the wing in place of Jacopo Trulla.

The match pitches Capuozzo against his Toulouse team-mate Kinghorn, one of three French-based players in the Scotland starting XV. Bordeaux’s Jonny Gray and Toulon’s Ben White are the others and all three clubs are riding high in the Top 14 and in Europe.

Bordeaux, Toulouse and Toulon occupy the top three places in the league and have all secured home ties in the last 16 of the Champions Cup.

“They'll come in with confidence,” Townsend said of his French-based trio. “It's because the rugby they're playing is successful. That means you have to train at a high standard. They're part of winning programmes right now, successful programmes, and that can only be a good thing.”

Kinghorn, who won a league and European Cup double in his first season at Toulouse, has been playing a fair bit of rugby on the wing recently but Townsend has no qualms about picking him at full-back.

“I do think in the last month we've seen a real influence in the game from Blair,” said the coach. “And that second season is sometimes hard to replicate or produce the same form, but I think he's got back to his best form over the last few weeks.”