Rugby World Cup: Scotland's Blair Kinghorn on Hearts' Rudi Skacel, picking rugby over football and grasping his opportunity at full-back

Kinghorn said he was the sole Jambo in the squad although Pierre Schoeman took in the Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle last year and enjoyed the experience. “I think he’s been to a couple of games so maybe we should get down there,” smiled Kinghorn. “It’s just down the road from my house. I’ve not been in years. My dad’s side of the family are mad Jambos so I should maybe try to go with them.

“My favourite player growing up was Rudi Skacel. I remember me and my dad going to the [2006] Scottish Cup final when they beat Gretna at Hampden which was a good day out but Gretna aren’t a team any more! But I was still there and they won.”

Kinghorn has fond memories of Skacel visiting a training camp he was at as a kid but admitted he lacked the footballing skills of the great Czech, the only player in Hearts’ history to score in two Scottish Cup finals. “I don't think I was actually that good at football,” said Kinghorn who played for Tynecastle Boys Club before moving to Hearts. “I was just a big lump at the back who was pretty fast and could header the ball.”

While Skacel may have got his hands on two Scottish Cups, Kinghorn is playing in his second World Cup and admitted it was probably the correct call for him to pursue rugby over football. “So far it's been a good decision but we'll never know for sure!” he said. Asked if he could have made it in professional football, he added: “I’d have liked to have thought so but I don't think I would have been good enough.”

The big question this weekend is whether Scotland will be good enough to beat Tonga. To do so they will need to recover their attacking mojo which was smothered out of existence by South Africa in their 18-3 win in Marseille. It was the first time since 2020 that Gregor Townsend’s side had failed to score a try and was their lowest points total since the opening game of the 2019 World Cup, against Ireland.

“We were disappointed with the way we attacked,” Kinghorn said. “We know how good our attack can be so it’s just about putting that on to the pitch and we’re confident we can do it. We had an off day but I think everyone is really confident in our attack and there’s no panic.

“We changed our strategy a little bit and they adapted to that better than we did. South Africa come with an enormous amount of line speed and we were maybe a little bit too flat and were getting hit man and ball. There were a lot of errors in that game and we couldn’t really string together our phases. We pride ourselves on being able to go deep phase count and that’s when we’ll really get teams.”

Scotland couldn’t find a way to deal with South Africa’s blitz defence at the Velodrome but more space is likely to open up against Tonga, particularly in the second half. Four tries or more would secure a bonus point for Scotland which would likely prove very handy in the final Pool B shakedown but Kinghorn said no-one was getting ahead of himself. “Mainly we’re just focused on winning,” he said. “Look, if we attack as well as we can then the points will come but [the bonus point] will certainly be spoken about closer to the game or during half-time.”

At 26 and with 46 caps to his name Kinghorn can be considered one of Scotland’s senior players and feels settled now that he has taken over the No 15 jersey vacated by Stuart Hogg’s retirement. While his two seasons playing at stand-off were not without merit, the pacy Edinburgh man feels more comfortable at full-back, forming an effective back-three trident with two from Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe and Kyle Steyn. Having previously been in the shadow of Hogg and Finn Russell, he now has the opportunity to kick on.

“I feel like there’s been a different focus this pre-season, coming into the World Cup feeling like I can grab a starting jersey, and being able to start at 15 is something I don’t want to let go of and something I don't take lightly. I feel comfortable back there. I’ve got the ability to cover stand-off if needed but I feel like full-back is my best position at the moment, and I feel like that’s where I can offer the team my strengths.”

Kinghorn is under no illusion as to how tough it will be against the Tongans who mix outrageous handling skills with and abrasive edge but he believes Scotland can give as good as they get in Nice. “We know it’s going to be a massively physical game. They like to hit things and they have some big men. Look, we’ll just put our game out there and we might have to wear a few big ones but we pride ourselves on our physicality as well so we’ll be fighting fire with fire.”