THE return of Blair Kinghorn to Edinburgh’s starting fifteen for the first time this season can provide the attacking edge they will need to cause an upset against reigning URC champions, DHL Stormers at the Cape Town Stadium this lunchtime, says head coach Mike Blair.  

Kinghorn's presence in the team also means the visitors have a front-line kicker to call on after Henry Immelman missed two late shots at goal which could have secured a famous victory against the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend.  

The 25-year-old playmaker was a late call-off to that match – which Edinburgh agonisingly lost 33-31 – through illness, meaning his only appearance for the club so far this season was as a second-half replacement in their URC opening weekend victory over the Dragons a fortnight ago, when he played a crucial part in all three tries scored by his team during his 30 minutes on the park, scoring one and setting up the other two. 

Since making the switch from No 15 to No 10 last season, Kinghorn has become Edinburgh’s attacking lynchpin, so there is a lot of pressure on his shoulders, but Blair is in no doubt that the player has the mentality to cope with that. 

“The job that Jaco van der Walt did for us in the first 10 minutes of last weekend’s game before getting injured was excellent, then Charlie Savala coped with going from not being in the match-day 23 to playing 70 minutes  in a composed and skilful way, which was a real positive for us, but having Blair back with the skill-set and belief he brings to the group is crucially important for us,” said the coach. 

“The kicks we missed last weekend did have effect on the result because, had we kicked either of those goals, we would have won the game,” Blair conceded. “They were tough kicks, one from 47/48 metres on the angle and the other from 52/53 metres, but obviously kicking goals is a vitally important part of the game, so we need to get high percentages on that.  

“I believe Blair has got a lot of confidence in his kicking and he’s more than equipped to take on that responsibility.” 

There are four other changes to Edinburgh’s starting fifteen, with Stuart McInally swapping in at hooker for the benched Dave Cherry, Hamish Watson replacing the injured Luke Crosbie at openside flanker, Nick Haining taking over from rested Fijian No 8 Viliame Mata, and Ben Vellacott preferred to Henry Pyrgos at scrum-half. 

“The Stormers are the favourites in this game having won the competition last year and they are able to field most of the Springboks. They didn’t play at Cape Town Stadium last week, they played out at Stellenbosch, so this is their first game back at home in the new season as champions. So, they will be really motivated for this,” added Blair. 

“But this is a great opportunity for us to show our growth, show where we’re at. I believe we’ve got a really strong squad this year, and I believe guys are in a position to perform well, so this could be a really great challenge for us.  

“Bulls at Loftus was a challenge we attacked head on last week and I believe we will do the same against Stormers this weekend. 

“There are similarities to the Bulls as they have some big powerful men in the team. But defensively they have a lot more line-speed so we’ll have to be accurate and ready to react to that.  

“They are probably more dangerous in the open field, with their transition and counter-attack game, so we need to be disciplined and not give them any opportunities, because we know they will punish us.” 

Meanwhile, Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba will make his Stormers debut in this match, with fellow South African internationalists Damian Willemse, Deon Fourie and Salmaan Moerat also added to the starting line-up, plus Herschel Jantjies among the replacements. 

“It is great to have a few of our top players back from national duty and they have all slotted in seamlessly this week,” said Stormers head coach John Dobson. “We are all looking forward to getting out there at DHL Stadium in an early game which should be a great occasion for everyone.” 

Blair added that there is nothing report with respect to the prospect of former players Rory Sutherland, Duhan van der Merwe and Murray McCallum returning north after current club Worcester Warriors fell into administration earlier this week. 

“It is a fluid situation, so we’ll just wait and see what happens,” he said. “First and foremost, we want the club to survive, the players to keep their contracts and the management to keep the club going. 

“Worcester have been a big part of Premiership rugby and their story is a story of success and hopefully they can continue that."

  

Edinburgh (v the DHL Stormers at DHL Stadium, Saturday 1pm British time, 2pm local): H Immelman; D Graham, M Bennett, J Lang, D Hoyland; B Kinghorn, B Vellacott; P Schoeman, S McInally, W Nel, S Skinner, G Gilchrist (co-captain), J Ritchie (co-captain), H Watson, N Haining. Substitutes D Cherry, B Venter, L de Bruin, G Young B Muncaster, H Pyrgos, C Savala, C Dean. 

DHL Stormers C Blommetjies; S Hartzenberg, D du Plessis, D Willemse, A Davids; M Libbok, P de Wet; A Vermaak, J Dweba, N Fouche, S Moerat, M Orie (captain), D Fourie, H Dayimani, E Roos. Substitutes A Venter, B Harris, S Sandi, A Smith, E van Rhyn, J Pokomela, H Jantjies, S Mngomezulu.