Blair Kinghorn not in team to face Ulster in his scheduled final Edinburgh match
Blair Kinghorn’s Edinburgh career is effectively over after the Toulouse-bound full-back was not named in the team to face Ulster on Saturday in what was scheduled to be his final match for the club.
It was announced last Thursday that the 26-year-old Scotland international would be making a mid-season transfer to the French Top 14 champions after this weekend’s BKT United Rugby Championship encounter in Belfast, but he has been omitted with what Edinburgh described as “a minor hip injury sustained in training earlier this week”.
English-born South African full-back Tim Swiel, who joined the Scottish side in the summer from Japanese club Toyota Shokki, will make his debut at Kingspan Stadium in place of Kinghorn.
Elsewhere in the backline, 22-year-old academy graduate Harry Paterson is handed his first start of the season after Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe suffered a concussion in training.
Ben Vellacott gets the nod at scrum-half, with Ali Price dropping to the bench, while hooker Dave Cherry is out injured and lock Grant Gilchrist is rested. Scotland back-rower Hamish Watson is on the bench after recovering from a fractured cheekbone.
“We’ve made a number of changes this week – a few unfortunately down to injury – but that’s really exciting for the guys who come in and get their opportunity,” senior coach Sean Everitt told Edinburgh’s website.
“We, and I’m sure Blair, would have liked to see him play his last game for the club, but he has picked up a minor knock in training and unfortunately misses out – it’s great to see Tim Swiel step up at full-back having been made to wait for his chance.
“We’re lucky enough to have strength and depth at other positional groups where we’ve been able to rotate, while we welcome back experienced players like Bill Mata, Jamie Hodgson, Hamish Watson and Mark Bennett, who will all be champing at the bit to make an impact on Saturday night.
“It’s set to be another massive test but one we’re looking forward to. We travel to Belfast with plenty of quality in our ranks.”
Edinburgh are looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat at home to Benetton last weekend.
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Sam Cane is a superstar, someone New Zealand should be proud of. How unfair to always compare him to Richie, like saying Mother Theresa is ok, but she's no Jesus. Let's not forget, Sam started in 2012 around the time Richie was probably starting to think, this will be my last world cup cycle if you think he didn't have a big say in who the backup 7 would be and who was best to take over from him after 2015 then you don't understand how clever and forward thinking the man was. Sam Cane was Richie's choice, as apprentice and replacement. Not many people can say they are a better judg Anyone who understands rugby knows the loosies are a trio picked to complement each other, not 3 guys who score trys and make line breaks. No doubt Sam would love to be doing what Ardie does, that's not what was required of him. He had to hit rucks hard , force turnovers and tackle like an animal On defence, that's what he did.
Go to commentsThis article overlooks how the 9 position has developed to be a playmaker, which these 2 are both excellent at. Defences are so good now there is not the luxury of going 9 -> 10 on every play. Playing “off 9” as they say, has become very commonplace these days, but 10+ years ago you hardly saw this. Boiling the great modern 9s down to box kicking doesn’t do justice to how good the great ones have become. Dupont would be the first choice 10 in most teams in the world, JGP pops up in places you would never expect a 9 to be.
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