Blair Kinghorn: Why now is the right time to play him at 10 for Scotland as Gregor Townsend pinpoints match which convinced him

Scotland’s Blair switch project will reach its apex in Dublin on Saturday when Kinghorn lines up at ten against Ireland in the final round of this season’s Guinness Six Nations.

The wisdom or otherwise of converting the back-three player into a stand-off will be laid bare in front of a jury of 50,000 mainly hostile spectators as the visitors seek their first win in 12 years in the Irish capital.

It will be an onerous occasion for Kinghorn, whose one previous start at fly-half in a Test match came in the lopsided victory over Tonga at Murrayfield in the autumn.

He has functioned well there for Edinburgh this season, starting eight matches in the ten jersey and finishing on the winning side on seven occasions, most recently in the impressive 56-8 victory over Connacht. But this is a huge step up for the 25-year-old who played his schoolboy rugby as a stand-off before being redeployed as a full-back and winger.

Kinghorn had brief appearances off the bench at stand-off against Wales and France but missed last weekend’s win over Italy due to personal reasons and Gregor Townsend refused to say whether he would have started him at ten in Rome had he been available.

The national coach was also reluctant to go into detail on where it had gone wrong for Finn Russell. For so long Scotland’s talisman, Russell will be on the bench in Dublin after an indifferent championship.

“I prefer to focus on what Blair has done and how well he’s played and deserved this opportunity,” said Townsend. “Which he certainly has in his performances throughout this season.”

The plan to convert Kinghorn was hatched towards the end of last season. He had a couple of games at ten for Edinburgh under Richard Cockerill’s stewardship but it was when Mike