The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)

‘ELECTRIC DARCY IS ON FIRE’ – RITCHIE

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Jamie Ritchie paid tribute to “electric” Darcy Graham after his Edinburgh teammate scored a stunning hat-trick in Scotland’s emphatic triumph over Argentina.

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.

“Darcy’s on fire,” said captain Ritchie.

“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.

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

“I think we felt something has been building,” said Ritchie.

“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 (autumn) campaign. Results aside, I’ve been really proud of how we’ve prepared for games and the messaging around it.

“We’ve stuck to our guns with regard to what we wanted to do. Before the Australia game, we spoke about fighting to get moments back (during adverse periods) and I think we did that.

“Before the New Zealand game we spoke about being courageous and I think we did that.

“Against Argentina we spoke about being relentless and we put 50 points on the board, so I’m really pleased with that.”

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