Blair Kinghorn is keeping a completely open mind where he could end up playing for Scotland, but he knows it’s all a work in progress.
The 24-year-old won his 27th cap but his first at 10 against Tonga at the weekend, and it all went pretty well for a player who has until this season played all his pro rugby at full back and wing.
In schoolboy rugby Blair was a 10, but it’s taken Gregor Townsend and new Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair to move him back to the pivotal role.
Yet despite a fine performance against the Tongans, Kinghorn knows he might even be in kit for this week. Finn Russell and Adam Hastings are back in the squad for the sellout test against Australia on Sunday, after missing the weekend.
‘I might need more timber for that’
📸 A selection of our favourite snaps from Saturday's victorious return to @BTMurrayfield.
➡️ https://t.co/DIcC3KnbXN pic.twitter.com/CMItbvGHFa
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 1, 2021
“24th man?” he laughed when asked where he might be for that game. “Maybe I should try for second row, I might need to put on a bit more timber for that.
“Really, I don’t know where I’m going to end up. I’m just glad getting a few strings added to the bow. I am enjoying my game time at 10 having played there in the last two months with Edinburgh.
“I was meant to get that chance in the A game in the summer against England. It was disappointing that game was cancelled, so it was awesome to get a first run at 10 for Scotland.”
Kinghorn had a few party tricks for the first crowd in Murrayfield since Covid. They including the cross-kick for Kyle Steyn’s second try and a huge miss-pass for Rufus McLean’s second score. There was even a couple of underhand offloads all straight out of the Finn Russell repertoire.
“I though Kyle wasn’t running fast enough,” he said of the cross kick. “So I wanted to put it really far in front of him just to get his high-speed metres in – and he did well to finish it.
“I think Rufus started the move on the left, and then Steyno charged in at a high-rate of knots.”
‘It took me a while to settle into it’
🎬 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢 🎬
Take a behind-the-scenes view of Saturday's @AutumnNations opener against Tonga at @BTMurrayfield.
💿🎶 @DTTVOfficial – ugly pic.twitter.com/pbi92nazvu
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 1, 2021
He totally enjoyed the experience, though.
“I was nervous before the game. I felt like it took me a while to settle into it,” he said. “We played a little bit better in the second half, a bit more expansive rugby.
“We did well to hold onto the ball at times, our set-plays and set-piece worked really well for us this week. A lot of things we did at tempo which is something we talk about a lot.
“It settled my nerves having the boys around me playing well, running great lines and chatting throughout. It all makes playing 10 a lot easier.”
Scotland did have to sweat on regular 10 Finn Russell playing on Sunday night for his club Racing 92 against European champions Toulouse.
Finn plays 10 minutes against Toulouse
👊Para esto Worcester contrató a Duhan van der Merwe.pic.twitter.com/lC4gISBSgc
— Periodismo Rugby (@Perrugby) November 1, 2021
Russell hadn’t trained when with Scotland last week because he was “managing an issue” according to Gregor Townsend. He was on the bench for Racing in their 27-18 victory at La Defense Arena. The British Lion played just the last 10 minutes without incident.
The remainder of Scotland’s exiles were joining up with the team on Monday. Duhan van der Merwe scored twice for Worcester as they beat Sale, but Rory Sutherland wasn’t involved.
Adam Hastings and Chris Harris were part of the Gloucester team that lost 16-13 to Stuart Hogg and Sam Skinner’s Exeter. All came through that contest unscathed.