Scottish Rugby

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Darcy Graham allayed concerns over a potential knee injury after starring in Edinburgh's 43-0 win over Benetton on Friday.

The Scotland star needed treatment and strapping in the first half of the URC contest, but was able to play on and scored two magnificent tries in the dominant victory.

With Scotland's first match of the Autumn Nations Series against USA fast approaching, Graham said his knee felt "all right" at full-time.

"I got through that game after I tweaked it early on," he told Premier Sports.

"I just needed to run it off and get a wee bit of ice on it at half-time."

Graham went on to say Edinburgh set the standard for the rest of their season with their first victory of the season.

"It was a good win," he said. "It's a start for us - that's our starting point and we're not dropping below that.

"It was awesome tonight. Close to a sell-out and it was a great atmosphere.

"Cammy Scott controlled the game really well and Charlie Shiel is a class player - every time he plays, he's electric."

Edinburgh sealed their first United Rugby Championship win of the season with a morale-boosting bonus-point home success over Benetton.

Read the match report.

Let us know your thoughts.

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Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt tells Premier Sports: "Happy with the performance - not a complete performance by any means, but good to get the win and proud of the seven tries we scored.

"It's always good to keep a team to zero. Tonight we had the discipline and put it all together.

"Dylan [Richardson] is an incredible player with incredible work rate. Happy for him.

"Cammy Scott is a guy we've been watching closely and working with. He's strong defensively and ran the attack well.

"Defensively it gives us energy. Defence can win you rugby games. We were four points away from two wins away from home, so obviously we wanted to bounce back."

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Scotland cap Ollie Smith says Glasgow need a fast start if the Warriors want to stand any chance against Ospreys in Saturday's URC clash in Swansea.

The Welsh side took a 24-0 victory over Zebre at home last weekend, while Franco Smith's side beat Dragons 49-0 at Scotstoun.

But in the last meeting between the two clubs in March, Ospreys opened up a 15-0 lead on their way to a 32-31 win in Glasgow.

"It's going to be a difficult match," said full-back Smith.

"Travelling away from home is always difficult in this league. Ospreys are playing a good brand of rugby, they had a good win against Zebre last week so it's going to be a tough game in tough conditions probably.

"As we've seen in the last couple of weeks, especially last week, Ospreys start pretty well. They scored two early tries and it was the same when we played them at Scotstoun last year.

"We got stung a bit in the first 20 minutes so there's a lot of focus on the first 20 minutes from us, coming out the blocks fast and starting the game from there.

"It comes back to being ready to go from the first whistle and not taking too long to get into the game."

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Scotland centre Stafford McDowall will return to Franco Smith's squad when Warriors face Ospreys in Swansea on Saturday in the last match before the autumn international break.

McDowall, who captained Scotland for their first match of the Pacific Tour against the Maori All Blacks in the summer, missed out altogether last week after being rested against Dragons. He is joined by Matt Fagerson, who returns from an ankle injury.

The Scotland caps' inclusion are two of nine changes to the starting XV that beat the Welsh side 49-0 at Scotstoun last weekend.

An all-new front-row sees Patrick Schickerling and Murphy Walker joining Johnny Matthews, who made his 100th appearance for the club by coming off the bench last Saturday, while Alex Samuel returns to the second-row alongside Max Williamson.

Euan Ferrie retains his place in the starting pack, shifting to blindslide flanker in a back-row completed by Angus Fraser and Fagerson at number eight.

Jamie Dobie reverts to scrum-half after starting on the wing last time out, with Adam Hastings continues at fly-half, only needing 13 more points to reach 500 in a Glasgow jersey.

Scotland U20 Seb Stephen makes his first appearance of the season after being named among the replacements, while Nathan McBeth returns from injury for his first outing of the season.

Alex Craig returns to the bench after making his debut last time out.

Scott Cummings, George Horne, Rory Sutherland, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson and Josh McKay miss out altogether from the squad last week.

Glasgow Warriors: Smith, Steyn (C), McDowall, S Tuipulotu, Rowe; Hastings, Dobie; Schickerling, Matthews, Walker, Williamson, Samuel, Ferrie, Fraser, M Fagerson.

Replacements: Stephen, McBeth, Talakai, Oguntibeju, Craig, Duncan, Afshar, Lancaster.

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Head coach Sean Everitt is "excited" for the delayed start to Edinburgh's home season but has warned that a Benetton side full of international quality will provide a stiff test in Friday's United Rugby Championship contest.

Edinburgh's opening game was postponed amid stormy weather and, having lost narrowly in Munster last time out, Everitt told his club website: "It had already felt like a long time since we'd been back with our fans and now even more so – so we can't wait be playing in front of them again.

"We're excited to be back at home after a false start with the postponed Ulster game."

Benetton lost their opening away game to Connacht but already have a Scottish scalp this season, having won at home to Glasgow Warriors.

"Benetton can't be underestimated with the squad they have," Everitt said. "They've got plenty of Italian internationals playing for them and they've got overseas internationals as well, so they're a really good team."

Everitt pointed to new attack coach Pete Wilkins as a key factor in their newfound potency, noting their impressive wins over Glasgow and the Lions.

"Benetton have done well," he said. "They've changed the way they play.

"They've had to grow and they certainly look a better outfit than what they showed last year. They're a dangerous team."

However, Everitt thinks Edinburgh are "headed in the right direction" and pointed out that the defeat by Munster came amid a flurry of four yellow cards.

"The yellow cards in the context of the game and in rugby were correct," he added. "So we have to take that on the chin. I'm just proud of the way the guys fought with numbers down."

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Fly-half Cammy Scott makes his first home start for Edinburgh as they entertain Benetton in the United Rugby Championship on Friday.

The 24-year-old academy graduate is one of three changes to the side that lost narrowly in Munster last time out.

Scrum-half Charlie Shiel and lock Grant Gilchrist also come into the side for what is Edinburgh's first home game of the season after their match against Ulster was postponed because of Storm Amy.

Scotland international Dylan Richardson, who joined Edinburgh from Sharks this summer, retains his place after making his first start against Munster.

Head coach Sean Everitt said the South Africa-born player "certainly showed what he's about" in his first outing at flanker.

Scrum-half Ben Vellacott drops to the bench, while lock Marshall Sykes is rested and Ben Healy also sits out the match at Hive Stadium, with Ross Thompson being the fly-half on the bench on his return from injury.

Loosehead James Whitcombe is also among the replacements in place of the rested Boan Venter.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh will be debuting what they describe as an innovative pre-match light show before kick-off that synchronises the mobile devices of those in attendance.

Edinburgh: ⁠Wes Goosen, Darcy Graham, Piers O'Conor, James Lang, Duhan van der Merwe, Cammy Scott, Charlie Shiel; Pierre Schoeman, ⁠Ewan Ashman, D'arcy Rae, Sam Skinner, Grant Gilchrist, ⁠Liam McConnell, Dylan Richardson, Magnus Bradbury (capt).

Replacements: ⁠Paddy Harrison, James Whitcombe, Paul Hill, Glen Young, Freddy Douglas, Ben Vellacott, Ross Thompson, Ross McCann.

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Gregor Townsend believes Scotland are in the "best position" ever in the time he has been head coach, and insists there is still more to come from his side.

"What we've gone through, good and bad, we're in the best position that we've been in, in the time that I've been here," said Townsend on the BBC's Scottish Rugby Podcast.

"When you look at other teams that have had success, there's a couple of common elements. One is player leadership, and we've now got some real leaders in our group.

"The other one is cap numbers, so now we're getting into the top four or five in the world of caps in our team. That means we're a cohesive team. We've not had many changes throughout our bigger games, our Six Nations and November Tests.

"With that, they play together, they've had experiences, but I feel that this team is in the best place ever, and I'm going to be a part of that for the next two years, so that's brilliant.

"I love the time I'm with the players, and summer tour was another reminder to me about the joy I get out of it, but also what we're capable of achieving."

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Former Test winger Damien Hoyland is one of six contracted players as Scotland launch a men's sevens programme.

It will be run by Scottish Rugby and will also oversee the men's and women's Great Bitain sevens teams prior to World Series events.

Hoyland, who made his Scotland debut in 2015 and has previously played for Edinburgh, joins after featuring in Major League Rugby in the USA for Old Glory DC.

Josh Radcliffe, a 22-year-old Australian-born sevens player who qualifies for Scotland through his father and has recently been playing for New Zealand Universities, is also included.

Great Britain Sevens players Finn Callaghan - who came through the Glasgow Academy - Matt Davidson, who has played for Edinburgh, and Watsonians' Roan Frostwick are among the six.

Jacob Henry - a former Scotland Under-20s player who featured in the 2022 Commonwealth Games - is the final member of the squad.

The programme will be run by Ciaran Beattie, who was previously head coach of Scotland sevens and has led Great Britain sevens since Scotland, England and Wales combined to compete on the World Series.

The core contracted players will be complemented by others from outside, including from Glasgow and Edinburgh's professional academies.

It was announced in May that the GB men and women's full-time sevens programme would be scrapped in July, with no more permanent contracts and players instead coming together to play on the World SVNS Series.

The unions say the decision was driven by financial pressures and a bid to improve the crossover with the 15-a-side game.

The GB women's sevens programme will operate predominantly out of England and Wales with players from all three countries able to be nominated for selection.

Scottish Rugby performance director David Nucifora said: "The Sevens World Series is an excellent opportunity to expose our players to international rugby and better prepare them for the demands of professional rugby.

"The new model allows us to develop young Scottish players in a full-time training environment prior to exposing them to the world stage by competing for Great Britain."

Grant Young
Fan writer

Glasgow Warriors bounce back at home with an expected win over Welsh side Dragons. But a 49-0 score line is probably a kind reflection of the game.

A slender two-try lead was all the Warriors took into the sheds at half-time and after last week's second-half collapse to Benetton, there was nobody in Scotstoun taking it for granted.

But a clinical second half performance put them well ahead.

Dragons had good territory but the Glasgow line held them out.

Glasgow in attack definitely looked like what the Warrior fans expect with timely offloads, big line breaks and some high-quality chase downs.

A player of the game performance from Gregor Brown really cements him as a new favourite. He gets about the ground well, scored a nice try and seems to be a player with real potential. He's a player, like Euan Ferrie, who is benefiting from getting a lot more game time.

Glasgow now hit the road to face Ospreys.

Away victories across the URC so far have been difficult to come by.

The last meeting of the two had Ospreys score in the last moments of the game to win 32-31 at Scotstoun.

Glasgow need to send a message to the rest of the league. Everyone knows they can win at Scotstoun, it's now about what they can do to teams on the road.

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

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Brown shines

On a comfortable evening for Glasgow in front of their own fans, Gregor Brown was the standout performer.

The versatile forward powered over at the start of the second half for his first Warriors try, but more eye-catching was the subtle offload he provided to set up George Horne's first try of the evening.

The Scotland international has now made 29 successful carries after just three league matches and gets through a power of work defensively.

Horne delivers reminder of clinical edge

Scrum-half Horne has been a central part of Glasgow's success under head coach Franco Smith and his two tries against Dragons helped show why.

He reads the game magnificently and always seems to be on hand to support teammates and finish off moves.

He sets the tempo for Glasgow and took his record try-scoring tally for the club to 61.

Smith sets standards

Despite the impressive margin of victory, South African Smith made it clear that he wasn't impressed with how his side started on Saturday.

He told Premier Sports it "wasn't close" to what he thinks is "necessary to compete in the competition".

A sentiment one can only imagine he relayed to his players at half-time.

They scored 14 points in the first half and 35 in the second, suggesting his team talk did the trick.

Smith knows exactly what it takes to win the United Rugby Championship and he knows his team will have to be better for the sterner tests that await.

We asked for your views on Edinburgh's narrow defeat to Munster and Glasgow Warrior's emphatic victory over Dragons.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Munster 20-19 Edinburgh

Ian: Different Edinburgh this week. The same one we saw at the tail end of last season but was missing in week one. Physical, up for the fight and brilliant to watch at times. Three league points from two away games isn't the worst return in the world, just a little disappointing because they could have been two away wins but for some of our own decisions and some refereeing decisions. Lots to reasons to be hopeful though. First home match next week, let's go!

Andrew: Edinburgh's intensity in attack and defence should have won them the game. Individual discipline and execution leading to four yellow cards gifted the game to a largely overwhelmed Munster. We always seem to find a way to lose. Oh Edinburgh.

Andy: Appalling display by Edinburgh accompanied by an equally appalling display by Ben Whitehouse. Edinburgh lacked discipline and a couple of yellow cards were deserved but having watched game, I can't understand how the referee allowed Munster to either collapse or turn every scrum in the last 20 minutes without penalising them. This negated Edinburgh's dominance in set play. Definitely cost Edinburgh a victory as game was theirs for the taking.

Bryn: Enough is enough Edinburgh! No more players or coaches coming out talking about looking in the mirror or learning from the mistakes or stepping up to the plate or any of the other multitude of weekly cliches we are subjected to. Someone with authority in the SRU needs to step in and publicly put this collective of players and coaches on notice. Just not good enough.

Glasgow Warriors 49-0 Dragons

Kenny: A good night to be at Scotstoun with seven unanswered tries for Warriors. Franco Smith's comments are always spot on. Dragons were plucky in some phases but just outclassed over the 80 minutes.

Robert: Great win for the Warriors, a number of top performers like Gregor Brown and George Horn but Kyle Steyn again proved his worth. What a top class performer and Warriors captain he is.

Stuart: Glasgow still not clicked into gear and with all the injury issues and the reduced squad, they will probably only rarely be able to field their first choice 23 a couple of times this season in the URC. What Smith has done brilliantly over the last few years though is blood his young players and develop the entire squad to the point that everyone knows their role, the system, what their job is and what the expectations are of them even if they are playing out of position to the point that Glasgow almost don't have a first choice 23 and it's almost seamless. Glasgow did enough to blow Dragons away but there is better to come from this group, the intent is there and if it actually falls into place they'll be very difficult for anyone to beat. Delighted they shook off last week's shocking second half and some great individual performances and a much better team one.

Neil: 49-0 is a great result and a great response after the disappointing second half capitulation to Treviso last time out. Franco Smith will be pleased that Warriors put in a better performance and stopped the Dragons from scoring, but I still feel that there is a lot more to come from Glasgow, with a number of big names still out injured and some of the young players still developing.

Glasgow Warriors plundered seven unanswered tries at Scotstoun as they crushed Dragons in the United Rugby Championship.

Read the full match report.

Have your say on the match.

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Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith on Premier Sports: "Slow start. First half wasn't close to what I think is necessary to compete in the competition. Much better second half.

"The game lacked a bit of intensity - we couldn't get into a flow and a rhythm. We don't have to have the ball to have that intent, but we came out of the changing room much better [for the second half].

"We were not gaining as much as I would like in the contact area. We got pinged a couple of times at the breakdown and it felt like we were a little bit reactive.

"Benetton proved tonight [with victory over Lions] they will be tough to beat. We felt we did enough against them to have more points on the board. That put a lot more pressure on what happened next, but we saw a response and there's stuff to take into the next game."

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt told Premier Sports: "We played 80 minutes with 14 men and that's never going to be ideal when you play away to Munster.

"I'm very proud of the way the boys fought. We made a contest out of every set-piece, every breakdown. That's what we asked them to do. We wanted to take Munster out of their rhythm.

"I think some of those yellow cards are justified. I'll have another look at the other ones. I'll look at the penalties as well. It's something we take pride in. We know that if we concede under 10 penalties we'll win, so we'll see where we can improve in that department.

"We need to continue. You can't back off because you've lost a game away to Munster.

"We've got our first home game next week against Benetton and I'd like to see the same fight and energy. We just need to be more more accurate with our discipline."

Four yellow cards in a one-point defeat away to Munster?

The hosts missed all four of their conversion attempts, while Ben Healy hit the post with the one that got away for him.

Read the match report as Edinburgh suffer another narrow defeat.

Let us know your thoughts.

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Alex Craig will make his Glasgow Warriors debut as Dragons visit Scotstoun on United Rugby Championship duty on Saturday.

Summer signing Craig arrived in Glasgow from Scarlets, but the lock has yet to make it on the pitch following a hamstring injury.

The Scotland cap's inclusion is one of six changes to the starting XV that faced Benetton in last weekend's final-minute defeat in Treviso.

Rory Sutherland and Fin Richardson continue as the starting props, with Gregor Hiddleston coming into the starting line-up as a hooker.

Scott Cummings will make his first start of the season after featuring off the bench in the opening two matches as he partners Craig.

Macenzzie Duncan continues at openside after being awarded player of the match in Italy, as the flanker joins Gregor Brown and Euan Ferrie, who moves off the bench to the back-row.

George Horne returns to the starting XV at scrum half, while Ollie Smith comes back into the midfield after starting on the wing against Sharks a fortnight ago.

Jamie Dobie shifts to the wing after starting at scrum-half last weekend, with captain Kyle Steyn and Josh McKay completing the back-three.

Johnny Matthews drops to the bench for what would be the hooker's 100th appearance in a Glasgow jersey should he come on to the field.

Jare Oguntibeju, Matt Fagerson, who is nursing an ankle injury, and Stafford McDowall miss out altogether from the squad last week.

Glasgow Warriors: McKay, Steyn (c), Smith, S Tuipulotu, Dobie; Hastings, Horne; Sutherland, Hiddleston, Richardson, Craig, Cummings, Brown, Duncan, Ferrie.

Replacements: Matthews, Schickerling, Walker, Samuel, Williamson, Fraser, Afshar, Lancaster.

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BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.

Andrew asked: After seven years of winning nothing and failing to qualify from a World Cup group, are we all just assuming that Gregor Townsend spending less time [focussing] on the Scotland job isn't going to hurt us?

Tom answered: Well, I don't think he'll be spending less time on the Scotland job. It's a 30-day commitment, but the optics of this Red Bull/Newcastle link are not good at all and he's put more pressure on himself by doing this. If Scotland have a bad autumn, a bad Six Nations and a bad summer then I'm not wholly convinced he makes it to the World Cup.

On your 'winning nothing' point. What do we expect Scotland to win? Ireland and France are better than Scotland. They just are. Expecting some third-place finishes is not unreasonable, I think. It hasn't happened often enough.

Both of his World Cups have been really poor. It's not so much that they got knocked out in the group stage both times, it's that they didn't compete in the biggest games. The heat is on Townsend even more so after that announcement last week. People don't like him having a sideline gig and I can see why.

Doug asked: Franco Smith said we may have to be patient for the next couple of seasons as we build our Scots-qualified depth. Last weekend however seemed a particularly poor episode in game management, like that Ospreys match at Scotstoun last season. We possibly have some unrealistic expectations as Warriors fans but do you think there could be lean seasons ahead or do you think with a little luck with injuries Glasgow can still compete in the URC?

Tom answered: Last weekend was pretty weird. I think all of the Glasgow players were a bit lost for words about how they let that game slip, albeit Benetton are a good side who will take a few scalps at home I suspect.

Patience is advised because they've lost a few important players but my view is that Glasgow will still be very close to the top four if not in the top four. The squad is still strong and there are a lot of young players emerging fast. And Franco Smith is an outstanding coach and mentor.

You're right about injuries. They haven't had much luck on that front - and they'll need a bit more luck this season. It's important they bounce back emphatically against the Dragons and the Ospreys in the next two games.

Harry asked: What would enable Edinburgh to be more competitive while international players are away on Scotland duty? Clubs like Leinster and Bath continue to dominate their games without key players. Is it simply a case of squad depth?

Tom answered: When it comes to Edinburgh, it's a lot of things. It's coaching, its squad depth, it's mental strength, it's leadership, it's basic hunger and desire, it's discipline. Edinburgh can struggle to beat opponents they should be beating even when they have a full squad to pick from. Scotland internationals, Lions, promising young players - and still they lose too many games.

It's the entire culture at Edinburgh that's wrong. It has to be. Their problems have been going on too long under too many different coaches. How do you fix a culture? That's not an easy one to address. There's just something wrong in the bones of Edinburgh Rugby and it's been wrong for a long time. It needs root and branch examination.

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Dylan Richardson will make his Edinburgh debut in Friday's United Rugby Championship meeting with Munster in Limerick.

The Scotland cap's inclusion is one of six changes to the starting XV that faced Zebre in last month's campaign-opening loss in Italy. Edinburgh's match at home to Ulster last week was postponed because of Storm Amy.

Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe start on the wings while Pierre Schoeman, D'arcy Rae and Sam Skinner come into the pack.

Paul Hill and Harry Paterson drops to the bench while Ewan Ashman, Jack Brown, Grant Gilchrist and Luke Crosbie miss out.

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen, Darcy Graham, Piers O'Conor, James Lang, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben Healy, Ben Vellacott; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, D'arcy Rae, Marshall Sykes, Sam Skinner, Liam McConnell, Dylan Richardson, Magnus Bradbury (capt).

Replacements: Paddy Harrison, Boan Venter, Paul Hill, Glen Young, Freddy Douglas, Ben Muncaster, Charlie Shiel, Harry Paterson.