KINGHORN LEFT TO SUFFER
Fly-half the villain after missing kick at the death to hand win to Aussies
IT SHOULD have been a fairytale for Blair Kinghorn. Instead, missing a relatively easy matchwinning kick with thirty seconds left turned it into a nightmare.
Up until then, the fly-half had been brilliant in open play and looked like he was about to step out of the shadow of Finn Russell once and for all.
He had run the game superbly well, scoring a magnificent solo try, setting up another for Ollie Smith and finding touch with precision.
But when the pressure was on, he blew it big time. He had a relatively simple penalty to win the game but his effort didn’t come anywhere close to troubling the posts.
Thoughts will turn to this time last year when Russell kicked the winning penalty with 11 minutes left under huge pressure when Scotland got their third straight victory over Australia. This time round, the man who Gregor Townsend picked ahead of him failed to follow his lead.
Although Kinghorn failed with his kick when it mattered, the damage was done more through Scottish indiscipline, especially replacement Glen Young, who picked up a needless yellow card when his team were well on top.
They were 15-6 points ahead with 56 minutes on the clock with Kinghorn running the show before Young was yellow-carded — he was lucky not to get a red for a late hit to the head of Tate McDermott. Scotland conceded 15 penalties — far too many — even although Australia conceded just one less.
The match started at a frantic pace with both sides trying to run the ball and that turned out to be the theme of the game which was scrappy at times. Kinghorn looked a bit shaky early on with an attempted pass to Darcy Graham that went over the winger’s head, causing a few nervous moments.
Aussie scrum-half McDermott made the best early break when he left the Scotland forwards in his wake with a clever kick ahead that forced Graham to save the day by touching down behind his own line.
The Aussies got confidence from that and it took superb Scotland defending to keep their forwards out with Jamie Ritchie winning a vital penalty at the breakdown.
Scotland started to come out of their shell and went ahead with a superb score from Smith on his first international appearance at BT Murrayfield. David Cherry found Sam Skinner at the line-out and they went from there.
First, Ali Price got the ball from the breakdown and worked well with his forwards and backs to make some hard yards. Their patience was rewarded when Sione Tuipulotu went through a gap in his first contribution to the game. The ball was recycled to Kinghorn, who sucked Bernard Foley into the tackle before releasing a perfectlytimed pass to Smith. The full-back had lots still to do but managed to go past two defenders, both of whom made fairly pathetic attempts to tackle him, before he scored. Kinghorn missed the conversion.
Foley got the first points for his team when he put over a penalty after Pierre Schoeman was caught offside but blotted his copybook in his next involvement when he put a clearance kick out on the full.
With 24 minutes on the clock, Scotland were forced into a change with Skinner going off injured, with Young taking his place.
The experienced Michael Hooper gave away a penalty in front of the posts but, rather than take three easy points, Scotland kicked to the corner and should have scored from the move.
Kinghorn was at the heart of the action, playing a ball out wide to Tuipulotu. The centre only had to catch the ball and go over but it bounced forward off his chest and the chance was gone.
It was still all Scotland with their forwards rumbling towards the opposition line over three different attacking phases. Young thought he had gone over the ruck in the last of the three to touchdown but was held up over the line.
Smith showed maturity beyond his years to save a try by diving on a ball kicked forward by winger Andrew Kellaway before getting up to clear the danger.
Tempers boiled over just before the break with Zander Fagerson and Cadeyrn Neville squaring up after Cherry had given away a penalty at the breakdown.
In the last play of the first half, Foley put over a penalty after Cherry was penalised at the breakdown to level the scores at the break.
Scotland made the perfect start to the second half after the ball went loose in the midfield after Foley slipped. Kinghorn was on to it first and kicked ahead. He then showed great footballing skills by kicking it even further along the ground with his left foot. It was then a straight foot race with the Scotland No 10 out-sprinting six Aussie defenders — the last being Kellaway, who caught him too late — before he went under the posts. Kinghorn put over the conversion.
The Scotland fly-half then put in a superb kick to the corner to pin the Wallabies back but, frustratingly for the home side, they gave away a penalty from the driving maul. Kinghorn was on the scoresheet again with a penalty as his influence continued to dominate proceedings.
Kinghorn started another move that was carried on by Duhan van der Merwe, who bulldozed over Kellaway and then Foley but, just
when Grant Gilchrist was seeing his name in lights, the second row dropped the ball just before the touchline.
In the next move, Scotland were dealt a blow when Young was yellow-carded. Referee Luke Pearce, along with TMO Stuart Terheege, took a long look at his clear out on McDermott before ruling that as he only hit him on the head with his bicep rather than his shoulder he didn’t deserve a red. McDermott’s head knock was so bad he had to go off, with Nic White replacing him.
It took a superb tackle from Van der Merwe to stop the next Australian attack as they tried to get back into the match.
Just before the hour mark, former Australian international Jack Dempsey came on for his Scotland debut. The No8 became eligible because three years had passed since he last played for the Wallabies and he had a Scottish grandfather.
Dempsey’s first involvement was standing behind the posts after Aussie captain James Slipper went over for their only try. Foley put over the extras.
Kinghorn gifted possession back to the Aussies after missing Ritchie with a long pass. Indecision between Van der Merwe and Smith let a Foley kick find touch and when the Scots were caught offside, although it looked a very marginal call, Foley put over his fourth kick out of four.
With 10 minutes to go, the Scots were now a point behind and chasing the game. With two minutes left Hunter Paisimi was lucky not to see yellow for a deliberate knock-on and, a few phases later, the visitors were penalised at the breakdown. Kinghorn stepped up for his shot at glory but his kick drifted painfully wide of the posts.