Blair Kinghorn’s transition to stand-off at Edinburgh impresses Chris Paterson

Chris Paterson knows from experience how difficult it can be to stay sharp in multiple positions, but he has been impressed by Blair Kinghorn’s transition to stand-off with Edinburgh this season.

Paterson is the all-time record points scorer for Edinburgh and Scotland and played at stand-off, full-back and on the wing during his celebrated career.

Kinghorn won 25 Scotland caps playing at wing or full-back prior to this season but has been primarily utilised at 10 by new Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair, who has guided the club to the top of the United Rugby Championship.

The 25-year-old started a Test in his new position for the first time against Tonga in the autumn and has been named in Scotland’s Guinness Six Nations squad at the expense of Gloucester stand-off Adam Hastings, with Finn Russell the only other recognised number 10 selected.

However, Paterson says the role is not completely alien to Kinghorn.

“I’ve worked with Blair for a long time and when I started working with him he was a 10,” Paterson told the PA news agency.

“Through his age-grade stuff he was a stand-off or first receiver and he’s always kept bits of that up in training. So it’s probably a bigger surprise and there were more eyebrows raised outside the camp than within Scottish rugby.

“He’s been so impressive in terms of how naturally he plays at 10 and I think the way Mike wants to play with his attacking mindset, Blair has picked that up and run with it.

“He’s a really laidback character, really quite exciting in terms of how he wants to play, so he really fits that bill.

“Blair is instinctively made for that style of rugby and has probably more experience than most people would really imagine.”

Asked how difficult it is for a versatile player to