BLAIR Kinghorn has become the latest Edinburgh player to agree a new deal with the team, signing a two-year contract just a day after Magnus Bradbury put pen to paper. Now 19, Kinghorn originally signed for Edinburgh in the summer of 2015, also on a two-year deal.

“I’m really looking forward to the next couple of years and contributing to the team as we look to get to where we want to be,” the full-back said yesterday. “This club is a great place with a good bunch of guys involved and a great squad, who for the past couple of seasons have been getting and better. I was delighted when I was offered a new deal, so I’m happy that I’m staying here and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

“The young lads are getting a good shot here and we’re all coming up through the team. I’m looking forward to getting out there and kicking on for another couple of seasons.”

For Duncan Hodge, Edinburgh’s acting head coach, ensuring that Kinghorn remains with the team for at least another two years is a vital part of strengthening the squad. “We’re delighted to have secured Blair – a young, Scottish talent – at the club for another two seasons,” he said. “Blair is maturing and fully understands the work ethic needed on and off the field to succeed. There are many areas for Blair to keep progressing, but he is striving to better himself and we look forward to him benefitting the club in years to come.”

Kinghorn, who can also play at stand-off, will be in his usual No 15 jersey on Monday, when Edinburgh take on Glasgow in the first match of the 1872 Cup. Bradbury, who has agreed a new three-year deal, is at No 6.

Both men will play vital roles if the home team are to get on top of their rivals at Murrayfield, and yesterday Bradbury, without giving too much away, explained the broad plan for taking on Glasgow. “At times we want to be expansive, but we want to earn the right by playing tight first and then playing a more expansive game,” the 21-year-old said. “I expect there will be times when we need to stick it up the jersey and the forwards will be forwards, and times when the backs will have to play.

“It will be a bit of both, I'm guessing. At times we’ve let ourselves down this season, but this is a game we’ve earmarked to get ourselves back on track.”

To do that, Bradbury admitted, his team will have to avoid two bad habits they have got into this season: failing to start well, as was the case in both games against Stade Francais; and, conversely, starting well but allowing their concentration to lapse at stages later on in the game. “That’s what we’ve talked about,” Bradbury added when asked about the need for an 80-minute effort. “The last couple of games you’ve seen how it affected our performance and affected the results.

“We usually start games well but then take our foot off the gas in the first 10 minutes of the second half, so we have to have that emotional edge and keep our feet on the gas the whole game. We know we’re fit enough: it’s just about stringing that together and getting their heads in the right space.”

It remains to be seen whether the Warriors, for their part, adopt a similar game plan to the ones that served them so well in their previous two games, both against Racing 92. The Edinburgh squad were certainly impressed by those two performances, and have to hope that forewarned is forearmed as they set about thinking of how to nip the Glasgow attack in the bud. “They did really well,” winger Tom Brown added. “They made Racing 92 uncomfortable and forced them to make errors off the back of their defence and finished off good tries. They kicked their goals. They played smart, which was the telling factor in both games.

“They were playing against the team that was in the final of the European Cup last year and also a team expected to do well and possibly go all the way this season. With Glasgow winning home and away it’s great for them and Scottish rugby.”

This is Edinburgh’s last home match before they move to Myreside, and while the 1872 Cup is always a big occasion with a crowd that could not be accommodated at Watsonians’ ground, Brown and his team-mates are looking forward to their new environment. “Edinburgh have been crying out for their own place to help give us our own identity ever since I’ve been in the academy a good six, seven eight years ago,” he said.

“You look at some of the places we play away at - Scotstoun, over in Galway, down at Rodney Parade - these grounds have their own identity and are tough places to play. We want to create that atmosphere at Myreside and we can make it a fortress. Myself and the boys are all looking forward to the move.”