Scotland confident of chances in World Cup - Blair Kinghorn

Scotland fullback Blair Kinghorn expressed confidence of his team's chances in the upcoming Rugby World Cup.

Gregor Townsend's men are part of a tough group that also has Grand Slam winners Ireland and the defending World champions South Africa along with Romania and Tonga.

Nevertheless, Kinghorn believes their performances in the last few months that includes autumn victories over Fiji and Argentina followed by narrow defeats to New Zealand and Australia and Six Nations wins over England, Wales and Italy this year have kept them in good stead for the upcoming showpiece event.

“The boys are confident. I think we’ve always been confident in our ability to perform well. Over the last year we’ve had a lot of big wins. We beat England and we pushed New Zealand pretty close.

“Performances like that give the boys a lot of confidence we can go out and beat anyone in the world. I think it does help having a little bit of wind in your sails. It’s exciting times, really.”

Kinghorn also added that the players are determined to prepare mentally and physically in the pre-season ahead of a grueling schedule.

“Pre-season’s always pretty tough, coming off the back of a holiday, but the boys have flown into it and I feel as if we’re getting a lot out of it. We’re working hard and seeing some progress being made.

“I think everyone’s having a good time and the spirits seem to be high. We are doing a lot of fitness, but we’re doing a lot of it in our rugby sessions, so it’s very specific to how we want to play the game.

“They’re trying to make it as rugby-related as possible, because you can do a lot of straight-line running and it’s very dull and boring, and you probably don’t practice your skills under pressure.

“Whereas now we’re doing fitness in rugby games and it makes your decisions under pressure, when you’re under fatigue, a bit better."