Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Kinghorn celebrates 24th birthday by signing new Edinburgh contract

Scotland's Blair Kinghorn has signed a new deal with Edinburgh. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Blair Kinghorn has become the latest player to sign a contract extension with Edinburgh, putting pen to paper on a new deal on the same day he celebrates his 24th birthday. The back becomes the third Scotland internationalist to extend their contract with the club in the past fortnight – following Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie.

ADVERTISEMENT

The club have also recently announced two new additions to the squad, with Scotland centre James Lang and second-row Glen Young signing from Harlequins.

Kinghorn first signed professional terms with Edinburgh following the Scotland U20’s World Championship in 2015 and made his club debut later that season.

Video Spacer

Harry Randall | All Access

Video Spacer

Harry Randall | All Access

He enjoyed a breakout campaign under head coach Richard Cockerill in 2017/18 and finished the Guinness PRO14 campaign with the most metres gained in the league and a place in the end of season Dream Team.

He was then rewarded with his senior international debut in Scotland’s 2018 Calcutta Cup win over England at BT Murrayfield and scored Scotland’s first Six Nations hat-trick since 1989 in the 33-20 victory over Italy a year later.

The pacy back-three player with is now bearing down on club centurion status, with 94 appearances and 23 tries for Edinburgh and 25 caps and eight tries for his country.

“I’m Edinburgh born and bred and I grew up supporting the club. The club really means a lot to me. It has a very special place in my heart,” Kinghorn said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I was 18 when I first signed so re-signing as I turn 24 is a bit mad. It’s been a whirlwind of a journey. I’m still on the young side when we split into ‘youngies and oldies’ in training but I might get pushed to the oldies soon, given the number of young guys coming through.

“I’ve always played here and love representing the city. The pinnacle of that will be when we get into our new stadium and the fans are allowed back in. I think that day will really show how much the club means to the fans, how much the players care about representing them, and how much they mean to us. It’s really something to look forward to.

“My goals personally are to keep developing to the best of my ability, keep getting better every day and every week, and keep striving for success with the club.

“It’s a challenging environment and there’ll always be change, but we’ve managed to sign and re-sign some really great players, which is great news for Edinburgh.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I think the future is really bright. I think the squad we’ve developed – and continue to develop – is really exciting. I feel like we’re capable of pushing on for greater things and I want to be a part of that.”

Head Coach Richard Cockerill, said: “We’ve enjoyed bringing supporters some good news these past couple of weeks as our plans for the future continue to take shape. Blair is a local lad come good, which is always nice to see. He’s also a gifted athlete who’s developed into fine rugby player over the past few seasons with us, and continues to get better.

“He’s racked up an impressive number of appearances and tries for club and country for someone so young and is a real asset to us in the back-field, particularly in a counter-attacking sense.

“He’s regular starter for us and sets a good example for those coming through on what it takes to achieve that. It’s fantastic he’s staying with us.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 1 hour ago
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

4 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

28 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones
Search