Skipper Jamie Ritchie has complete confidence Blair Kinghorn and Ollie Smith will slot seamlessly into the major roles detailed for them in Scotland’s final Guinness Six Nations match against Italy.
Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg are out – only the second time in more than a decade either one or the other have not started a Six Nations game for Scotland.
Kinghorn and the former Strathallan School full-back come in at stand-off and full-back respectively. They both played in the third test in Argentina last summer.
They also started against Australia in the opening game of the Autumn Tests, when both scored tries.
‘I see Blair work every week, every day’
Final session ✅#AsOne pic.twitter.com/EOJgmsPYCg
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 17, 2023
Ritchie is close to Edinburgh team-mate Kinghorn, and has been impressed by Smith’s application despite both being on the fringes of action this championship so far.
“I’m really confident both will do well,” said the captain. “I see Blair work every week, every day.
“I know he has been chomping at the bit to get a starting role for the whole tournament, not just this game.
“Every game he has come on for us he has made an impact. I am excited to see him get going from the start.
Skipper Jamie Ritchie has complete confidence Blair Kinghorn and Ollie Smith will slot seamlessly into the major roles detailed for them in Scotland’s final Guinness Six Nations match against Italy.
Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg are out – only the second time in more than a decade either one or the other have not started a Six Nations game for Scotland.
Kinghorn and the former Strathallan School full-back come in at stand-off and full-back respectively. They both played in the third test in Argentina last summer and also against Australia in the opening game of the Autumn Tests, when both scored tries.
Ritchie is close to Edinburgh team-mate Kinghorn, and has been impressed by Smith’s application despite both being onthe fringes of action thuis championship so far.
“I’m really confident both will do well,” said the captain. “I see Blair work every week, every day.
“I know he has been chomping at the bit to get a starting role for the whole tournament, not just this game.
“Every game he has come on for us he has made an impact, so I am excited to see him get going from the start.
‘Ollie has been desperate to get playing’
“Ollie has been just as desperate to get playing as he has been training really well. I am looking forward to see him get on the ball.”
Kinghorn was detailed as the lead 10 for Scotland in five straight games last year. He was dropped to bench duties since Russell returned, but Ritchie thinks he’s responded superbly.
“It would be great from his point of view to start every week. But we are a very competitive team and he has still played a vital role,” he continued.
“At the moment I can’t see him being left out of the 23, because of the experience he has and the impact he has been making.
“The value as him as a player is he can play in a lot of positions. But he is getting that starting position jersey based on merit, by the way he has come off the bench for us this season.
“I am really excited to see him play. He’s been frustrated about not getting more minutes but that is natural. There are lots of people in the squad who have not been involved but can step into roles in the starting team.”
Scotland have beaten Italy 11 times in a row and they’ve lost all four games of this campaign. But there’s no question the Azzuri are a far stiffer test than they’ve been in recent contests.
‘The best Italy team we’ve come up against’
Simone Gesi is absolutely lethal down that left wing 🔥
The @ZebreParma player will make his Test debut this weekend for @Federugby 🇮🇹 #U6N20 | @SixNationsRugby pic.twitter.com/RJM1UYpUDS
— Six Nations Under-20s (@SixNationsU20) March 16, 2023
Last year at the conclusion of the championship they had a historic win in Cardiff, and they’ll feel they can finish strongly again.
“This is the best Italy team we’ve come up against.,” added Ritchie. “We touched on they will come here with absolutely nothing to lose.
“But for us we have addressed how Italy will come into the game. After that it is about how we impose ourselves on the game.
“We have not talked about (that Cardiff game) a lot but they are in a better place than they were at the end of the last Six Nations. We will need to play well.”
The Scots want a quality performance and feel they have “three and a half out of four” so far.
“We don’t want to go chasing anything,” he said. “It is trusting who we are.
“There were points in the Ireland game when we went away from things we had been doing really well. It is about us being true to ourselves and being trusting what we are trying to do.
“We need to starve Italy of oxygen and energy by playing how we want to play. If put them under pressure, then we can get on top.
“For us it is making sure we do it for 80 minutes.”