Blair Kinghorn urges much-vaunted Scotland squad to now ‘do what we know we can’

Blair Kinghorn has challenged Scotland to prove they are worthy of the hype before it is too late.

The Scots, with a starting XV boasting a combined 690 caps before kick-off, rounded off an encouraging autumn campaign with a comfortable 27-13 win over Australia on Sunday.

Afterwards Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt said Gregor Townsend’s side were “in pretty much their sweet spot” in terms of being in their prime as a team, ready to deliver at the very top level of the game.

Scotland have gone into recent Six Nations and last year’s World Cup with high hopes but have ultimately failed to live up to their promise.

While they have become accustomed to beating the likes of England, Wales, France and Australia in recent years, they have proved unable to get the better of the three superpowers Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, and have still never got close to a Six Nations title.

“I think we know we need to be able to back it up,” said Kinghorn, who feels this much-vaunted generation are now ready to capitalise on the belief, cohesion and experience they have generated in recent seasons.

“We’ve said it many times before, we’ve been playing well, we’ve had some good wins here, but we’ve never really backed it up properly.

“It’s now time to put us on the block and hold us to our word. We’ve had a lot of good conversations in camp about taking ownership. It’s not all down to the coach, it’s about us guys on the field. It’s time to put our neck out there and do what we know we can do.

“This team has been together for pretty much this last World Cup cycle. We’ve got great connections with each other, we know how each other plays, a lot of the boys have played together at clubs.

“Glasgow winning the league has been massive for the team, I think it kind of brings that belief on how to win big games in tough atmospheres.

“We’ve got a very good, very experienced team. But it’s not going to last for ages, so we know we kind of have to make the most of it.”

While Glasgow’s URC triumph in June is deemed beneficial to fostering a steelier mindset within the Scotland camp, 27-year-old Kinghorn is able to bring a winning mentality of his own to the party after helping Toulouse to a Top 14 and Champions Cup double last term.

“Winning stuff is always the goal, and now that I’ve been able to do that with Toulouse, it was unbelievable last season, it was incredible, and it just makes you hungry to win things again,” he said.

“I know the Glasgow boys have the same feeling every time you pull on the Scotland jersey you want to win, and every time you win in the Scotland jersey you want to have that feeling again, so everyone’s kind of chasing that.

“It’s hard to describe what the feeling is, but when you play you kind of know what it is.”

Kinghorn moved to Toulouse from hometown team Edinburgh immediately after last year’s World Cup and has established himself as a key player for the French high-fliers.

“I think it’s been a great move for me, challenging myself week in, week out with some of the best players in the world in a top team,” he said. ”

“The style of rugby at Toulouse is really suited to me, and I feel like I’ve kind of taken that, not next step, but I feel like I have improved in my game, that’s for sure.”

Townsend added, “The frustrations of the Six Nations, to be in every game and potentially win every game and not come through with more than two wins.

“Right, that shows that they were ready back then. And I believe that experience has made us better, too.

“Certainly, a few things that we learned from that campaign off-field, on-field, maybe something tactically, technically.

“But also we have to grow as a group mentally. I think we’ve seen that in this campaign and we’ve got to grow again next campaign, which is obviously the Six Nations.”