Jamie Ritchie hails pace of Darcy Graham after crushing Argentina

Jamie Ritchie paid tribute to ‘electric’ Darcy Graham after his Edinburgh
team-mate scored a stunning hat-trick in Scotland’s emphatic 52-29 triumph over Argentina at Murrayfield.

The 25-year-old winger made it 16 tries in 33 caps with his treble as the Scots rounded off their autumn internationals on a high note.

Captain Ritchie said: ‘Darcy’s on fire. He’s playing with such confidence. Whenever he’s got anyone one on one, I just expect him to beat them.

‘He’s so quick off the mark and so quick at changing direction. He’s also deceptively strong for his size. That in a package is awesome. He’s just electric to watch. I love playing with him.’

Scotland ended a ‘mixed’ autumn series with an impressive eight-try victory over an undisciplined Argentina side who had Marcos Kremer sent off in the first half and three others sin-binned in the second.

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The Scots won two and lost two of their four Tests as they ended 2022 with five wins and seven defeats.

Ritchie added: ‘I think we felt something has been building. We were close in the Australia and New Zealand games.

‘We felt we played reasonably well in those games and didn’t quite get over the line but against Argentina we put a bit more together and it felt like it clicked, which is good. We want to set those type of performances as a baseline for us.

‘It’s been a mixed campaign. Results aside, I’ve been really proud of how we’ve prepared for games and the messaging around it.

‘We’ve generally stuck to our guns with regard to what we wanted to do.

‘Before the Australia game, we spoke about fighting to get moments back and
I think we did that. Before the New Zealand game we spoke about being courageous and I think we did that.

‘And against Argentina we spoke about being relentless and we put 50 points on the board, so I’m really pleased with that.’

Despite Graham’s treble, stand-off Finn Russell stole the show with a magnificent display and head coach Gregor Townsend confirmed afterwards that the 30-year-old is now back ‘in possession’ of the No.10

jersey ahead of the Six Nations after being omitted from the original squad for the autumn series.

Ritchie said: ‘I think the last two games he’s shown a real maturity and calmness in the way he’s played and he’s got us going. It’s been brilliant to see.’