OUR WING KING
Townsend salutes Kinghorn after try treble sinks Italians
GREGOR TOWNSEND last night declared Blair Kinghorn as Scotland’s new flying machine — and then told the nation’s rivals to catch him if they can.
Kinghorn’s three tries in yesterday’s defeat of Italy at BT Murrayfield saw him become the first Scotland player to score a hat-trick in the Six Nations.
The Edinburgh man ignited his team’s attacking unit as the Scots won their opening fixture in the Championship for just the third time in 20 attempts.
It also marked a seventh straight victory on home soil for Scotland in the Six Nations, with a wounded Ireland set to visit Edinburgh next weekend.
And head coach Townsend was fulsome in his praise for a player who, still only 22 years of age, now has six tries in eight caps.
‘I was very impressed,’ said Townsend of Kinghorn, who played on the wing yesterday rather than his natural position of full-back. ‘Blair’s got a temperament where it seems that nothing fazes him.
‘He started his first game over in Dublin last year, scored in the corner and made two line-breaks in addition.
‘He scored a try in Argentina in the summer and three today. He’s the quickest player in our squad. He has been playing regularly at
full-back, but we know he’s someone who can play very well on the wing.
‘He’s got the attributes of a full-back but he’s also very quick. That’s a positive for us and it obviously adds to the depth.
‘It will be a tough selection next week if or when Sean Maitland becomes available.’
Scotland looked to be cruising towards a handsome bonus-point victory until they rather blotted their copybook with the concession of three late tries.
Townsend is determined, though, to use that in a positive manner ahead of the visit of Ireland, who will be smarting following their defeat to England last night.
Asked if his players felt slightly deflated given the conclusion of the match, Townsend replied: ‘Yes — and it’s maybe not a bad thing.
‘This is the first game of the tournament and we’re playing the No 2 team in the world next Saturday.
‘We’re then going to a place where we’ve not won in 20 years (Paris), then playing the No 3 team in the world (Wales), then going to a place where we haven’t won since 1983 (Twickenham).
‘Feet on the ground is good for us. We’ve started with a solid win and scoring five tries is a credit to the players.
‘But we know next week’s challenge is huge and we have to get the focus right almost immediately.
‘The players will start to absorb the gameplan and what we need to do better to win next week.’
Beyond the contribution of Kinghorn, Townsend also
reserved special praise for Finn Russell.
The Scotland fly-half played a major part in all five of his team’s tries, with the head coach adding: ‘I thought that was one of his best games for Scotland.
‘He made very good decisions on the ball: when to pass, which pass to make, when to kick.
‘He’s led in training over the last couple of weeks and he led on the field in this match.’
Asked if he was unduly worried by the manner in which his team gifted those three late tries to the Italians, Townsend replied: ‘I don’t think so.
‘You can look at that and analyse that last 15 minutes, but credit to Italy.
‘They ran the ball from their 22 and we didn’t react to that quickly, which is disappointing.
‘And then once you allow a team to get into that area, it becomes harder to defend. They maybe tried things that they didn’t try early in the game.’
The main disappointment on the injury front for Scotland came with the sight of Sam Skinner having to hobble off with an ankle injury early in the match.
Skinner has been mightily impressive, both for his club side Exeter Chiefs and also for Scotland since making his debut last autumn.
‘He showed really good bravery on the field,’ added Townsend. ‘He went over on his ankle and he’ll get a scan on it.
‘He injured his ankle at the beginning of the season and missed two or three weeks, so we’re hoping it’s no more serious than that.
‘We thought he was going to be off straight away — it looked like it was a heavy knock — but he carried on for another ten minutes and his last contribution really helped the team.
‘He got up and won a kick-off and we then got in behind the Italian defence.
‘It’s obviously disappointing for him. He’s been playing really well so far in his Test career.’
Reflecting on Scotland’s performance against the Italians and looking ahead to next weekend’s visit from Ireland, captain Greig Laidlaw said: ‘We were well in control and just gave Italy momentum by being less aggressive and slipping off tackles.
‘That will heighten our awareness for next week against a quality team.’