Rugby Union - Autumn International - Scotland v Fiji - Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain - November 2, 2024 Scotland's Darcy Graham celebrates with his player of the match medal and with Scotland's Adam Hastings and Scotland's Huw Jones after the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
EDINBURGH (Reuters) -Scotland's winger Darcy Graham enjoyed a spectacular return to international rugby after a year's injury absence by scoring four tries as they thrashed Fiji 57-17 at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Edinburgh's Graham had not played since last year's World Cup due to a series of injuries but had a night to remember as he briefly joined Duhan van der Merwe atop Scotland's try-scorer's list with 28 - before his fellow winger also scored to reach 29 and reclaim the outright lead.
Scotland raced into a 26-0 lead after 21 minutes as Fiji had two men sent to the sin bin and conceded a remarkable eight penalties in the first 16 minutes.
Kyle Rowe got the first try before Graham grabbed two in three minutes followed by a Huw Jones interception score.
Then it was Scotland’s turn to lose a man and Fiji took immediate advantage with an Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula try.
Meli Derenalagi then crossed for a second to close the gap to 29-10 at halftime.
Tevita Ikanivere ran through some poor defending for a third Fiji try to make it 29-17 but Darcy finished off a slick move for his hat-trick and a 36-17 lead.
He then added a fourth, briefly taking him level on 28 with Van der Merwe who then took advantage of a smart Adam Hastings off-load to score his first and regain the record outright.
Hastings converted to bring up the half-century and Jones finished things off with his second in the final minute.
"We were tested in that second quarter, and sometimes we put ourselves under pressure," Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend told the BBC.
"We responded in the second half. The bench did well when they came on, some of them playing at Murrayfield for the first team, so that was pleasing.
"We showed our intent to get the ball in the last 20 minutes and our fitness came through. There's a few things to work on, but it's a good start."
With the match taking place outside the international window, Scotland will be back to full strength when they face South Africa next Sunday, while Fiji will also be buoyed by returnees against Wales the same day.
"We'll be (ready) next Sunday. We've got to assemble the game next week with players added to our squad," Townsend said. "We know we'll have to work hard and build that performance. We have to go in with the mindset and belief that we can win."
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, additional reporting by Tommy Lund, editing by Ken Ferris)
