Gary Graham snubs England to switch allegiance to Scotland 10 months after being called up by Eddie Jones
The Newcastle Falcons flanker was named in England’s Six Nations squad earlier this year, but has accepted a call-up from Scotland in order to play for his home nation
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Your support makes all the difference.Gary Graham has been called up to the Scotland squad as injury cover ahead of their autumn international with South Africa this weekend, just 10 months after being named in the England squad.
The 26-year-old was born in Stirling but left Scotland in 2015 to join the Jersey Reds, before moving on to Premiership side Newcastle Falcons in 2017. After qualifying to represent England in 2018 on residency grounds, Graham was called up by Eddie Jones to his squad for the Six Nations earlier this year, but failed to make a single appearance.
Graham has not been in the England reckoning since, and Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has taken full advantage of that to sway him into representing the country of his birth instead – although his sudden change of heart will trigger widespread debate over how players are able to pick and choose which country they play for in international rugby.
“I’m Scottish through-and-through but England asked me first as I’m eligible through residency,” Graham said. “It would have been a silly opportunity to pass up, as I hadn’t been selected for a Scotland squad since U20s.
“I’m absolutely delighted to get this opportunity. I phoned Gregor to assure him I wanted to play for Scotland, and always wanted to play for my country. It’s where I’m from and where I played most of my rugby.”
But his change of heart has been questioned given the comments that he gave in an interview earlier in the year about his call-up to the England squad. “I’d f*****g love to play against Scotland next week, make 1,000 tackles and shove it in their face — but it might have to wait until next year,” Graham told the Daily Mail ahead of the Calcutta Cup match in February.
That opportunity in next year’ Six Nations now looks highly unlikely, although Graham is not bound to Scotland until he has played for them.
Having persuaded him into the switch, Townsend added: "It was great to hear from Gary that he wanted to commit to Scotland.
“It has become a competitive environment for dual-qualified players recently and we know that these are not easy decisions for players.
“We’ve been tracking Gary since he was at Jersey and his form over the past 12 months at Newcastle has moved him closer to playing international rugby. We look forward to welcoming him into our squad for this week’s camp.”
The news is likely to come as a shock to the England camp given that there were no signs of him switching allegiance, and he will now join up with the Scotland squad which contains a number of his former Under-20 teammates in Finn Russell, Ali Price and Alex Allan.
In the interview at the start of the year, Graham added: “My career had plateaued while these guys I’d played with for Scotland Under-20s — Finn Russell, Ali Price, Stuart Hogg — had taken off and played for Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Lions. My face didn’t fit... I’ve got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about it.”
Graham is brought into the side due to the injury suffered by Scarlets flanker Blade Thomson, with the New Zealand-born back-row yet to make his debut for the Scots after his club refused to release him for the opening autumn fixture against Wales and missing out on selection for the weekend victory over Fiji.
South Africa meanwhile have influential lock Eben Etzebeth available again for selection after recovering from a foot injury suffered in the defeat by England that forced him to miss Saturday’s narrow 29-26 win over France. However, head coach Rassie Erasmus could be forced into a back-row reshuffle with No 8 Warren Whiteley struggling, with Duane Vermuelen an option to replace him if he moves from flanker for Saturday’s evening’s encounter at Murrayfield.
"Warren has a calf injury and I would say he is doubtful for Saturday," Erasmus said on Monday. "(Props) Vincent Koch and Frans Malherbe both have some bumps and we will be cautious with them, but I think they will be fit to play."
Ireland has also confirmed that two key players in Robbie Henshaw and Conor Murray will miss this weekend’s top-of-the-rankings clash against New Zealand, along with the rest of the autumn series. Henshaw was forced to pull out of Saturday’s victory over Argentina after the warm-up due to a hamstring injury, while Murray – who has not played a minute of rugby this season due to reasons that remain a mystery – will not be risked by Ireland boss Joe Schmidt, with the scrum-half is still recovering from a neck injury that very few details have been released over.
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