Scots flyer Graham gunning for home semi-final

EDINBURGH will come out “all guns blazing” against Glasgow on Saturday as they try to secure a home PRO14 semi-final, says Scotland wing Darcy Graham.

The resumption of the domestic season brings successive Murrayfield derbies with their inter-city rivals for Richard Cockerill’s side.

With a ten-point advantage over third-placed Scarlets in Conference B, leaders Edinburgh need just a point to book a semifinal, as only the top two in each conference proceed to the play-offs next month.

But with Munster only two points adrift in second place, a failure to hold on to top spot over the next fortnight would bring an away semi-final against Leinster, who have won all their 19 games – including six in Europe – this season.

“We are not taking anything for granted; we want to win next week,” said Graham, who is poised to make his return from a knee injury which forced him to miss Scotland’s Six Nations campaign.

“If we don’t then we are going into the following week with another ‘must win’ game and that’ll put pressure on us, so we will be going into the first one all guns blazing.

“We’re not into the semifinals yet and Glasgow are a really good team. They’re solid, strong and have got great attacking threats. We need to be defensively sorted and ready for them.”

Glasgow, trailing secondplaced Ulster by nine points in Conference A, only have the slimmest of hopes of reaching the semi-finals, needing two bonus-points wins to stand a chance.

While the Warriors have been regular participants in the play-offs for the past decade, Edinburgh are contemplating uncharted territory, having lost to Munster at the quarter-final stage under Cockerill two years ago.

“It’s massively important,” said Graham, who scored two tries in a 29-19 victory the last time the two Scottish rivals met at Murrayfield in late December. “We’ve never been in this position before and it would be huge for the city to get a home semi-final.”

Graham, who damaged knee ligaments in training just before Scotland’s opening Six Nations, is raring to go: “Lockdown came at a good time for me as I had a lot longer than expected to come back to full fitness,” added the 23-year-old.

“I’m feeling great now and I’m flying in training.”