Scotland defence coach Steve Tandy expects the Flying Fijians to kick more than they have traditionally done but is wary of the islanders’ renowned handling skills.

“I think they’ve still got the threat of offloads and picks through the middle,” Tandy told The Scotsman.

“I think they’ve definitely added more of a kicking style to what they’re doing now, so they’ve got threats across the board.

“Something magical can happen as well. There might be something defensively where you look at it and you go, ‘well actually everyone’s in the slot, everyone’s doing their job’, but some amazing offload will come.”

Scots star winger returns from injury

Meanwhile, the return of world class winger Darcy Graham has given the Scotland squad a lift ahead of the Autumn Nations Series and the Edinburgh player has been backed to rediscover his form across the next four weeks as the national side takes on Fiji, South Africa, Portugal and Australia at Murrayfield.

Graham has not played for Scotland since their final pool match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup against Ireland in Paris and has not featured in either of the last two Six Nations Championships due to a succession of injuries.

Tandy believes he is close to finding the form that has made him such a potent threat at Test level.

“It’s awesome to see him back,” said Tandy.

“Seeing him come in all bubbly and smiling is great and I think he’s starting to hit his straps at Edinburgh, I think the last game he played, he was outstanding.”

Graham, 27, is joint third on the list of Scotland’s all-time top try-scorers and will be looking to add to his total of 24. Only Duhan van der Merwe (28) and Stuart Hogg (27) have scored more than him but you have to go back to September 2023 for Graham’s last international tries, when he scored four against Romania at the World Cup.

The Hawick man has battled a succession of injuries over the last two years as issues with his knee, hip, quad and groin have conspired to rob him of a number of cap chances but he is for his return against Fiji on Sunday.

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