'A bit of closure' - Saints No.8 Graham gets set for return to scene of serious injury

On that day, the back row forward suffered a season-ending knee injury during the first half of a Gallagher PREM game against Leicester Tigers at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

He wasn’t able to return to competitive action until September of this year, having completed a long recovery process that included surgery.

And this week, he will return to the scene of last year’s painful experience looking to finally put those bad memories to bed and make some better ones in their place.

“It comes full circle and it's a bit of closure,” Graham said at this week’s pre-match media session.

“But the main thing is that I'm so excited to play any game that I'm getting at the moment.

“To get my first full 80 (since the injury) against Quins under the lights here at the Gardens a few weeks ago was pretty special.

“I got a few minutes last weekend and I felt refreshed off the back of a week off and ready to fly into it.”

Reflecting on that day last October, Graham said: “It is difficult not to (think about it).

“The mental side of the game on my return has probably been one of the things I've underestimated the most.

“While I've got to acknowledge that I'm going back to Welford Road and the last time I was there - and I'm sure when I get there it will all start coming back - I know I'm in a really great place.

“Physically I'm in a great place and mentally I'm in a strong place to go and give the best account of myself on Friday night so I'm really excited.”

Graham hasn’t had the smoothest of returns to action as no sooner had he made his comeback, he was quickly sidelined again.

He suffered concussion in the Gallagher PREM season opener after being hit high by Exeter Chiefs back Josh Hodge.

"It was a bit of a false start,” Graham said. “PREM week one!

“It was a weird one and it was a gentle reminder that rugby's a contact sport.

“Sometimes you're not in control of what happens because you can put yourself in the best position possible, and I think I had leading up to that, but it's just one of those things.

“There wasn't intent in it, it was just one of those things that I was on the wrong side of.

“I had to brush it off.

“I had a couple of weeks off on the back of that and got ready to fly in again.”

Such was the length of his initial lay-off, Graham feels like something of a new signing for Saints this season.

And his experience is extremely useful in a youthful squad.

"I'm finding myself as one of the older players now which is really weird at 28 years old,” he said.

“We've proved it before as a Saints team that we're not like everyone else, we like to be different and that breeds a lot of excitement.

“Obviously with so many guys in the international squads it's great to see them doing their thing every week, and the guys back here, we really feel we've got an opportunity to stamp our mark on the Saints shirt – and I think we've seen that in the last few weeks.

“We've got young guys coming through, people coming in on trial and it's not a massive drop-off.

“It's disappointing to have lost (at home to Newcastle Red Bulls) last weekend but we've got a lot of wrongs to right and I think we will.”

Graham might be one of the older squad members in terms of his actual age, but mentally he still feels young.

“I still feel like a 21-year-old,” he said. “I’m learning a lot and running around, chasing things the same way I was.

“In a way, coming into the game late and having that year where I didn't play last year, I suppose I feel as as excited as ever to be back in the mix and playing every week.

“I feel like I'm an academy kid coming through again, getting nervous before every team selection, hoping to be involved, and if I'm not then I'm gutted that I'm not playing and getting the opportunity.

“It's not like my love for the game is changing, if anything it's just got bigger.”

Graham appreciates what the young players at Saints are bringing to the sport, on and off the pitch.

And when asked what he thought of the viral TikTok dance Tommy Freeman recently posted online, Graham laughed and joked: “I think we'll have to have words with them when they come back!

“It's great that they're expressing themselves – and fair play to them.

“The game is changing in certain aspects and in a way you've seen with people like (Henry) Pollock if you're not afraid to be yourself and you put your head above the parapet, it's quite well received by certain audiences.

“There will always be a few people that it polarises but that's the modern world.

“Being a 28-year-old, I sound old, don't I?

“But I think it's a good thing and it grows the game.

“You can't have people saying 'we've got to grow the game' and as soon as they try, you shoot them down.

“We've got to grow the game and as long as we're performing, which we are at the moment, then what's the harm?”

With their international stars still absent, Saints are setting their sights on finishing this block of cup matches on a high at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Friday night.

Saints had picked up back-to-back bonus-point wins in the pool stages before suffering that 31-14 defeat to Newcastle last Saturday.

“We’ve placed a lot of value on this cup competition; we want to still play the Saints way, and we still have to put in the effort to grow as a team,” Graham said.

"A lot of us are trying to put our hands up for selection when we get back into the PREM next week, and this block has been massive.

“Even if we don’t get selected going forward, we’ve really improved the bottom line of where the group stands, and we know what we’re about.

“If our training level skyrockets as a result of this experience in this block then that would be a massive achievement for us, and I think we’ll see that pay off throughout the season.

“Every season we talk about it, and it takes everyone in the squad because you don't know what's going to happen with injuries and you don't know what's going to happen throughout the year.

“It could all of a sudden come to the last game of the season and it could be a final, and an academy guy who feels inexperienced at the moment will feel so much better when that times comes.”

Saints know just how important the trip to Leicester is as they bid to put themselves in the best place possible for the game at unhappy hunting ground Ashton Gate next weekend.

Graham has been part of some tough days against Bristol Bears and is desperate to avoid another west country defeat.

“Unfortunately Bristol has been a place where we've not really got the result and I think we've lost there in each of our last three visits," Graham said.

"It's obviously something we want to turn around.

“It's a tough place to go.

“Having been a player there – albeit I didn't play much when I was there – I know it's a tough place to go and it's certainly a challenge I get excited for every time.”

First up though: this game at Tigers.

"It's exciting,” Graham said. “This is pretty special and as a group, we've really leaned into the fact that a lot of the guys who will be playing this week were in the stands the first time we played them this season, at home.

“Now it's our opportunity to take it and see where we can go with it.

“It's a street fight mentality in any East Midlands derby so going away from home, we want to kick the door down and get off to a really good start.”