Did Blair silence his doubters? Probably not he says!
Blair Kinghorn knows not even a hat-trick of tries will silence the doubters who feel he shouldn’t play at stand-off for Scotland.
There was outcry when Kinghorn – who played his agegrade rugby in the No.10 jersey but until last season played his pro rugby at wing and full-back – replaced fan favourite Finn Russell as playmaker last year.
And those rumblings were renewed when he was picked to fill in for the injured Russell for Scotland’s final Six Nations game against Italy yesterday.
Asked if his performance will have silenced the doubters, Kinghorn grinned: “Probably not! People will still be hating but it’s a five-point win!
“I don’t listen to any of that stuff. I’m confident in my own ability wherever I get picked. I know I can go out there and play my best and hopefully add to the team which I think I’ve done in this Six Nations.
“I feel really comfortable at 10. I’ve trained a lot there this campaign and I feel like I’ve been in pretty good form coming off the bench so it was nice to get some more minutes in the shirt at 10.
“It’s quite easy to slot in when you’ve got people in great form around you like Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones. They’re constantly talking and that makes your life a lot easier but I felt good out there.”
After losing to France and Italy, yesterday’s win secured a third-place finish at least for Scotland and Kingorn said: “You obviously want to be higher.
“I think the consistency of our performance has been better than other years but if you’re not quite at the races against the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the world – and we certainly had our chances against Ireland and France – it’s a tough competition to break into that top two.”
Kinghorn also scored a hattrick against Italy back in 2019, but when he was asked if he’d get anything for his feat he replied: “Hopefully a pint or something. Maybe I’ll get the ball, I got it last time but I’ll just take a beer!”