BLAIR KINGHORN was afforded a mere thirteen days break between Scotland’s final game at the Rugby World Cup and making his first appearance of the season for Edinburgh but the full-back insists he was more than happy to get straight back into the mix with his club side on returning from Japan.
Kinghorn has had something of an up-and-down 2019; a Six Nations hat-trick of tries was followed by a serious ankle injury that ruled him out for the remainder of the season. He was selected for Scotland’s World Cup squad but his only meaningful game time was against Russia, leaving the 22-year-old desperate to get back to regular rugby on his return from Japan.
“I’m happy to be back – it was a long five and a half weeks we were away for,” he said.
“I was keen to get back into it because I didn’t have much game time when I was over there so I was more than happy to get straight back into it and get back into a routine of playing because I haven’t really had that since my injury in the 6 Nations.”
Edinburgh have had an impressive start to the season but they hit a blip last weekend in losing a tight game to Benetton in Treviso. For all the plaudits Richard Cockerill’s men have received for their new-look expansive brand of rugby this season, it is games such as last weekend’s which need to be ground out. And if Edinburgh want to be fighting for honours come the end of the season, they cannot afford to may slip ups such as that in Treviso.
“That game was about who was going to blink first,” he said.
“In terms of the penalty counts, we only gave away 8 penalties but some were in crucial moments including myself, I gave one away when we were in an attacking position in the 70th minute. Small things like that can flip a game on its head.
“I’d say you can’t afford to lose more than one or two of those types of games. Every game is crucial because every team in our conference has the ability to beat each other. If you’re looking to be to spot, those are very big games.”
Edinburgh face Dragons at Murrayfield on Friday evening and while they may not be one of the glamour opponents in the Pro14, Kinghorn knows his side must be at their best to come away with a victory.
“They beat Glasgow a couple of weeks ago and they’re a good team,” he said.
“We need to stick to our guns, I’m hoping it will be dry, but we need to stick to our process and we know if we play the rugby we want to play, like we did against Cardiff away and Scarlets at home, we’ll win.”
Following the match-up with Dragons, Edinburgh will begin their European Challenge Cup campaign. Kinghorn experienced the Champions Cup last season and he is in no doubt that is where he wants to get back to, so all focus will be on getting the result they need in the Challenge Cup to ensure they will be back in with the big guns.
“We had a home quarter-final in the Champions Cup last season and we probably should have won that game so that’s put us in good stead,” he said
“This (the Challenge Cup) is a competition we’ll be looking to do really well in, it’s another way to get back into the top flight of European rugby, if you win it, so that will be in the forefront of our minds.
You want to be playing in the big games, away to Toulon or Montpellier. Last year, they were massive for us and the players loved the experience so we’re hungry to get back into that top tier.”
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