Gary Graham (born 29 August 1992) is a

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player, whose position is openside flanker. He plays for

US Carcassonne Union Sportive Carcassonnaise are a French rugby union club based in Carcassonne. US Carcassonne currently compete in the Pro D2 of French rugby. The club was established in 1899. They play in black and yellow colours and at the Stade Albert Dome ...

in the third tier of French rugby.

Early life

Born in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, Scotland, he is the son of former Scotland international prop

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former Association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football ...

but grew up playing rugby in Carlisle, England.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He first played for Carlisle and then

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by T ...

Professional career

On 6 February 2015, Graham signed for English Championship side

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds is a rugby club based in Jersey, Channel Islands that currently competes at the RFU Championship, which is the second tier of English professional rugby. Until season 2022/23, the professional arm of Jersey Reds was part of Jers ...

on his first professional contract with the Islanders club. On 22 March 2017, Graham signed for

Gallagher Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

side

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

ahead of the 2017-18 season. He left Newcastle Falcons in 2023.

International career

Graham represented the Scotland U20s during the 2012 Six Nations Under-20s Championship and during the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championships. The event was organised in South A ...

. Initially overlooked by the senior Scotland side, Graham received an England call up in December 2017, for the 34 man Six Nations training squad. He was subsequently named in the English squad for the 2018 Six Nations Championship. Graham had a change of heart in November 2018 and was called up to the Scotland squad. He was subsequently named in the squad for the

2019 Six Nations Championship The 2019 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, ...

. He made his Scotland debut on 2 February 2019 in the Six Nations against Italy. Scotland won 33-20.

References

1992 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Rugby union players from Stirling Jersey Reds players Newcastle Falcons players Scotland international rugby union players Scotland Club XV international rugby union players Rugby union flankers Carlisle RFC players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub