Kinghorn happy to answer the call

FOR all his undoubted talent, Blair Kinghorn is not immune to the odd bout of pre-match nerves. Last week’s game against Ireland provided him with first-hand experience of how the excitement can manifest itself — and often at the most inopportune moment.

As the crowd at BT Murrayfield delivered the closing few lines of

Flower Of Scotland, and with the A-cappella echoes ringing out around the stadium, it was only then that the extent of the problem became clear.

His blistering turn of pace came in handy when he had to make a mad dash for the loo.

As the old saying goes, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.

It just so happens that, immediately after answering the call of nature, Kinghorn was required to answer his country’s call of duty.

So unfortunate to be dropped to the bench after his hat-trick against Italy on the opening weekend, it looked like his role against the Irish

was going to be that of an impact player coming on later in the piece.

But that all changed after barely quarter of an hour. With Stuart Hogg being forced off with a shoulder injury, Kinghorn was now required front and centre.

To his eternal credit, he took it all in his stride and was one of Scotland’s brightest players despite Gregor Townsend’s men slipping to a disappointing defeat.

Still only 22 and a relative rookie at Test-match level, it would have been easy for Kinghorn to sulk and spit the dummy after being dropped from the team.

Insisting he has no qualms with Townsend’s decision, though, it is clear that he possesses a level of professionalism that belies his tender years.

After a whirlwind day at the office, Kinghorn explained: ‘It’s one of those where you’re sitting on the bench and you just want to stay involved as much as you can because you never know when something strange can happen.

‘I had just come back out from the toilet when I saw him (Hogg) take a knock. Sean Lamont (fitness coach) comes over and is like: “Blair, you go down and get ready”.

‘You do get nervous but I was on so quickly after his injury happened that you don’t have much time to think about things or to be that nervous.

‘I slipped out to the toilet after the anthems. It’s one of those ones where I was waiting around for so long that it built up and I got myself too nervous. I was just straight on to the park and pretty much into an 80-minute game.

‘You can’t really beat yourself up (about being dropped), that’s just the way it is sometimes.

‘If you sit in a slump for too long, it’s not really going to help your development in any way.

‘Obviously you can be frustrated with some of the selections, but you’ve just got to pick yourself up, carry on and prepare the best way you can for that week.

‘If I’d been in a slump sitting on the bench thinking I should have been on the park, then when Hoggy went down after 15 minutes, I wouldn’t have been in the zone.

‘You’ve just got to be switched on the whole time. If you just do your job then when it comes to it you’ll be fine.

‘Gregor said I hadn’t done anything wrong in my performance against Italy, which is good.

‘I was just happy I played well, and accept that team selection is just how it is sometimes.’

Kinghorn has never been to the Stade de France in his fledgling career, but is almost certain to play in next Saturday’s match in Paris.

With Scotland chasing a first win on French soil in 20 years, he is wary of writing off Les Bleus despite them currently being mired in crisis.

What will imbue Kinghorn with confidence, though, is the fact the he and his Edinburgh team-mates within the Scotland camp have recent experience of putting French sides Toulon and Montpellier to the sword in the Champions Cup.

‘If all goes well this week, then hopefully I’ll get a run,’ he continued.

‘It will be a tough game, but I think our club form has shown we can win away from home with a couple of big wins in France.

‘It would be massive (to win in Paris). Our away record isn’t the best and we know that.

‘So if we want to put ourselves up there and be in contention for winning the Six Nations and moving ourselves up in the world rankings, then we need to go to tough places like this and put in a performance that gets a result.

‘I think we are all going there with a really positive mentality to right the wrongs of a tough game against Ireland.

‘I don’t think they (France) have been rubbish. I thought they played some really good rugby in the first half against Wales.

‘They’ll be disappointed with themselves and with the way they’ve performed since that first half against Wales when they were excellent.

‘They definitely won’t be happy with the way they played against England.

‘They’ll have had a tough week in training and will come out firing so it’ll be a really physical Test match.

‘But we believe we can win every game that we go into if we play the right rugby.’

Following his hat-trick against the Italians, Townsend declared Kinghorn as the fastest player in the Scotland squad.

It was a nice compliment, of course, but one which the Edinburgh flyer is reluctant to indulge in.

‘I think Hoggy will have something to say about that,’ he laughed, nodding to the star full-back who will miss the France game due to the aforementioned shoulder injury.

‘Hoggy’s been brilliant. He’s vastly experienced and talented, you can see that from his performances for Scotland.

‘He’s been really good helping me off the pitch as well, the analyst stuff. He’s really helpful, a great guy to be around in the camp.’

You don’t have time to think about things or be that nervous