Graham chases ‘dream’ season to emulate Dad
GARY GRAHAM insists there is no limit to Newcastle’s ambitions this season after they marked their return to the Premiership with a thumping, smash-and-grab 19-12 win at Bath last Saturday.
Spurred on by a text from his dad – the former Scotland prop George – reminding him that Newcastle won at The Rec in the opening match of the 1997/98 season, the year they won title at the first attempt following promotion, the back rower scored twice in a typically bruising performance.
Newcastle would have won more comfortably had Brett Connon not missed his first three penalty attempts, and Graham says the performance showed what they are all about.
“As history goes, the team that comes up from the Championship always has a battle on their hands but, for us, it was never in doubt,” Graham said.
“We have trained for a very long time and pre-season has gone on for months and months.
“It showed how much the boys wanted it, with how we played. We never took our foot off their throats right until the very end.”
No team has finished in the top half of the table in their first season back up since the playoffs were introduced in 2003/04. Quins’ seventh-place finish in 2006/07 is the best ‘bounce-back’ following relegation.
“One of our main mottos at the moment is that no one expects anything of us. But we expect everything from ourselves,” Graham added.
“We know we’re going to come up against some big teams but why can’t we be the team that comes up and has a dream return and go all the way?”
Graham will become a father for the first time in March but resisted the chance to do a cradle-rocking celebration after twice barging his way over from close range. After the first try, from a quickly-taken lineout, he looked too confused to even think about how to react.
“It was down to the quickthinking of Radders (Adam Radwan). I don’t think I really knew what I was doing, I just caught the ball and tried to get to the line,” he admitted.
“For the other one, I didn’t really do much. When you’ve got Logo Mulipola and Trevor Davison, one on your side and one on your arse, then boys are going to be pretty hard-pressed to stop you going over the line from a metre out.”
While it’s far too early to draw comparisons of the 1998 titlewinning team, of which his dad, below, was a key member, the win at Bath came in a retro green, black and white away kit that’s very similar to the 1998 attire.
Graham said: “I slated it when I first saw it, I thought ‘this is going to be terrible’ but obviously wearing it and watching the game back, I now think it’s one of our nicest kits.”
Graham gets daily reminders of his dad’s achievements at the Falcons but rather than feel weighed down by expectation, he thrives on the family link; his brother Guy also played at the Fal
cons.
“I feel like this is my home, I am really enjoying my time at Newcastle and I can’t see myself going anywhere else,” he said. “There are obviously pictures up of that old Premiership-winning team on the walls and it’s pretty cool to go to work and see your dad on the walls in a picture that represents one of the club’s best moments in history. That’s something that keeps spurring you on.”
Graham has been with the Falcons since a summer move from Jersey in 2017 and immediately caught the eye of Eddie Jones. The bristling aggression that Graham says he gets from his “lunatic” mother rather than his dad, saw him called up for England training.
But Eddie Jones never selected him, and the Stirlingborn player went on to play for the country of his birth instead when Gregor Townsend called him up for the 2019 Six Nations.
The 28-year-old has failed to add to his two Scotland caps since then, though, with Newcastle’s relegation to the Championship stalling his international ambitions.
“Gregor spoke to me when it got announced Newcastle had got promoted and we had a few messages back and forth but there were no games in sight at the time for us,” he revealed.
“I’m not thinking about it, I’m more focused on Newcastle getting on a bit of a run and doing something special with them.
“Anyway, Scotland have got some quality players in the back row, it’s a very competitive position.”