Blair Kinghorn tipped to seize Scotland number 10 chance - 'he has highest rugby IQ I've come across'

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair believes that Blair Kinghorn will seize his opportunity to make the Scotland No 10 jersey his own during this Autumn’s Test series, which kicks-off on Saturday evening against Australia at Murrayfield.

Blair Kinghorn is set to start at fly-half for Scotland against Australia on Saturday. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Kinghorn – who came to prominence in senior rugby as a back-three player – has started in the chief playmaker role before for Scotland (against Ireland at the end of the last Six Nations and in Argentina during the summer).

However, the stakes have been raised considerably in this campaign by the decision of national head coach Gregor Townsend to not pick Finn Russell in his training squad – effectively handing Kinghorn the keys to the kingdom.

Kinghorn often appears like a flighty character, but Blair – who has worked closely with the player during the last season and a half as he’s transitioned back to his schoolboy position of stand-off – insists that there is much more to the 25-year-old than meets the eye.

“I think he’s one of the players with the highest rugby IQ I have come across,” said the Edinburgh coach ahead of the trip to Cardiff in the URC on Sunday afternon. “When he was injured last year, he did a couple of previews for us and he did them better than the coaches would do them.

“You can hear him on the ref mic during games, having conversations with players about what opportunities there are and what things needs to change, so think he’s a brilliant guy to coach.

“But we’ve got to understand that across all teams and all personnel, there are going to be some mistakes in there, so it is about how you react to them. Blair will make the occasional mistake, but let’s look at everything he does well.

“Last season he had the highest number of assists in the northern hemisphere, so some people will look at it and say ‘Blair made this pass error’ while others look at it and say Blair created all these tries.

“I believe there is a huge amount of upside in Blair and what he’s trying to do.”