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Mike Blair assessing Edinburgh's Scotland internationals

By PA
Duhan van der Merwe of Scotland looks dejected during the Autumn International match between Scotland and New Zealand All Blacks at Murrayfield Stadium on November 13, 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair is assessing his Scotland internationals before deciding which of them to restore to the team for Friday’s United Rugby Championship showdown with Munster.

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The capital club were without a host of big names for Saturday’s disappointing defeat away to Benetton as Grant Gilchrist, Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman and Jamie Ritchie were among those given time off following their exploits with the national team during the recent autumn series.

The majority of the team’s key men have now rejoined training ahead of Friday’s match at home to ninth-place Munster.

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“We should have most of our internationals available so we’ll just work out the best way of bringing them back in over this intense period,” said Blair, referring to the fact his fifth-place team are due to play on each of the next nine weekends before the Six Nations kicks off in early February.

“Munster have improved a lot as the season has gone on. We definitely see a lot of growth in what they’re trying to do. They’ve made some changes with their coaching and their systems but they’ve still got quality players and they’ll feel it’s a really important game for them, as it is for us.”

Blair, speaking at his media briefing on Monday afternoon, remained frustrated with his team’s display in Saturday’s 24-17 defeat in Italy.

“We weren’t consistent enough with our application,” he said. “There was some really good stuff in there, some good moments, but playing away from home against a team like Benetton, you need to be on it 100 per cent and we kind of dropped in and out the game.

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“That’s not good enough at this level.”

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M
MS 1 hour ago
Why Blair Kinghorn should be nailed on as the Lions starting 15

I can see arguments for both Kinghorn, and Keenan starting for the Lions. But I’m less convinced by some of the claims (clearly partisan) supporters are using to argue the merits of one over the other.


For example, a number of Ireland supporters have suggested Kinghorn is ‘defensively weak’. That’s patently false - or at least on the evidence of this 6N, he’s certainly no weaker there than Keenan is, who is presumably the comparative standard they’re using. Keenan was both shrugged off in contact, and beaten on the edge for pace, a number of times during this competition.


Equally, Scotland supporters arguing Kinghorn is the more capable ‘rugby player’ seem to have overlooked the (frankly sizeable) body of evidence demonstrating that Keenan is an excellent ball in hand distributor and decision maker. So that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny either.


I don’t think there’s all that much to choose between them, and either would be a strong choice. I think it would be really interesting from a pure rugby perspective to see Keenan playing a ‘Scotland-esque’ style of high tempo attacking rugby. Either coming into the line more routinely as first receiver, or being swung as a pendulum and getting the ball on the edge against a stretched defence.


That’s assuming Andy Farrell goes that route, of course. He may well just opt for his Ireland system instead, and populate it with the likes of Henshaw, Ringrose, Lowe and Keenan. I’m sure that would win the series. Quite what effect it might have on a Lions audience who were expecting something other than ‘Ireland on tour, but wearing red’ would remain to be seen.


As for the debate at FB, the only ‘eye test’ difference I feel exists is in the pace of rugby Kinghorn (Toulouse? Scotland?) tends to play. His passing/offload game feels crisper and higher tempo than Keenan’s - and as we saw in Paris, his pace and eye for a gap from deep are superior.


But again, that will only prove a decisive factor if Andy Farrell wants to play that way. If all he wants from his FB is to sit deep, field high balls, and mop up then there’s little between these two equally excellent players.

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