Bullscot
Kenny Rogers’ late 1970s country and western hit The Gambler comes to mind regarding the Springboks coaching group for this one as they have weighed up holding or folding and decided instead to push all their chips into the middle.
When South Africa’s team selection landed on Thursday morning, it was not the decision to rip out and replace the half-back partnership – normally a call that would have dominated discussion – that seemed brave.
Instead it was the balance of the bench. Willie Le Roux is on one end – the only back riding the pine – while the other is weighed down with seven forwards.
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The phoney war is almost over.
England are the only team through to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals with a 100% record, progressing with five wins from five games.
They are unbeaten, but not undoubted.
Victories over Argentina, Japan, Chile, Samoa and Fiji have kept England’s campaign purring steadily forward. Not all the wins have been convincing, but on each occasion they have ended up on the right side of the scoreline.
The caveat is that they have also been on the right side of the draw.
On Saturday night, the velvet rope drops and they bash shoulders with the tournament’s big rollers.
Scotland’s starting lineup shows 5 changes from the side that lost 7 – 22 to Ireland at Murrayfield back in March with Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham and Ali Price in for Stuart Hogg, Kyle Steyn and Ben White in the backs plus Grant Gilchrist and Rory Darge replacing Jonny Gray and Matt Fagerson in the forwards. In total, 14 of the 23 featured against Ireland during the Six Nations.
The Irish XV only shows 2 changes to how they started earlier this year – Iain Henderson for James Ryan and Jamison Gibson-Park for Conor Murray. 18 of the 23 (including all of the starting XV) played some part in that most recent victory for Ireland over Scotland.
South Africa fly-half Handre Pollard says his return to international rugby at the World Cup will be “a big jump” that will not be “perfect”.
Pollard, 29, who was a late injury replacement to the squad, will start his first game since May against Tonga.
The fly-half has only played 30 minutes for Leicester Tigers on 15 September since sustaining a calf injury.
The kick off for arguably the biggest game of the World Cup so far, although the Cockerel and Kiwi supporters may disagree, is less than a few hours away. About time to express long held concerns regarding some of the selection choices by the Springbok brain trust. No, fear not am not going to jump on the 7-1 substitutes split hysteria bandwagon. That has been covered by so many outlets with various differing views.
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Wales survived a couple of nervy final minutes to record a 32-26 win over Fiji in a pulsating encounter in Bordeaux on Sunday.
Dan Biggar set a new Wales Rugby World Cup overall points record as his side held on by the skin of their teeth.
Flyhalf Biggar scored 12 points to move to a tally of 109 and pass Neil Jenkins total of 98 as both sides opened their campaigns in the tournament.
The two teams scored four tries and Fiji could have had a fifth right at the death if Semi Radradra had not spilt the ball – the look of agony on his face tells its own story.
Scotland and England meet in the Six Nations at Murrayfield on Saturday with the hosts tipped for a famous victory.
Scotland secured historic wins in London and Paris last year and have continued to improve, sparking hopes of a first Six Nations title.
England are aiming to bounce back from a fifth-place finish last year and gain revenge for their defeat at Twickenham.
Their transitional side won every game in the autumn, signing off by beating world champions South Africa.
Venue: Murrayfield Date: Saturday, 5 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMT/18:45 South African Time.
There’s a late change to the Georgia team to face the Springboks in the first Test at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
The Georgians announced that Ilia Spanderashvili has been moved to the starting XV at flank, Giorgi Tsutskiridze suffered a minor injury during training.
Irakli Tskhadadze will take Spanderashvili’s spot on the bench.
Tonight’s match kicks off at 19:00 (South African time).
The countdown is over and all the talking can stop, because this afternoon sees the start of the 2021 Women’s Six Nations as England take on Scotland at Castle Park. Kick off 16:00 (15:00 UK time).
The reigning champions will be looking to get off to a flying start against their old adversaries in Doncaster, as they look to increase their Championship unbeaten run to 12 matches this weekend.
The visitors will be looking to build on their last outing, which saw them hold 2018 Grand Slam winners France to a 13-13 draw at Scotstoun in the final match of the 2020 Championship.
With the new three-team pool format this year, a victory to start the competition is more vital than ever. The victor in this will steal a march at the top of Pool A, with a match against Italy to come to determine the final standings later in the competition.
Three games will be played today in the 6 Nations in what should have been the final weekend of this year’s tournament.
Scotland host Italy at Murrayfield in the match of the day and go into the game with captain Stuart Hogg starting at flyhalf. This due to first choice flyhalf Finn Russell being out with concussion and second choice Adam Hastings serving a suspension. Jaco vd Walt will be on the bench and will hopefully get some deserved game time.
The second game will see Ireland host England in Dublin following their narrow win away from home against Scotland last weekend. This will be CJ Stander’s last 6 Nations match for Ireland who will be hoping to send him off with a win.
The final game which would probably have turned out to be the title decider had COVID-19 not affected France earlier in the tournament. France host Wales in Paris tonight. Wales will be chasing the Grand Slam and have it in their hands to ensure this is the title deciding game with a win having not been beaten in the 6 Nations so far this year. France will be hoping for a win themselves to take the title race into next weekend when they host Scotland in the re-arranged fixture.
Scotland 24/ 27 Ireland
(Final Score)
Scotland host Ireland this afternoon at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.
Kick off at 17:00 (15:00 GMT).
This will be Scotland’s first test in 4 weeks while Ireland played their last 6 Nations game 2 weeks ago. Can Scotland bounce back from the agony of a narrow defeat at home to Wales in a game they should have won. Or will Ireland have picked up too much confidence from their big win away against Italy in their last game.
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The 2020/21 PRO Rugby season kicked off last night. The Champions, Leinster, have barely shaken off their hang-overs having lifted the PRO14 trophy for the 2019/20 season less than a month ago in Dublin.
Zebre hosted Cardiff Blues in the first match of the season. The Blues will return home with a victory under their belts. This in spite of a red card issued in the 43rd minute to their number 8 Josh Turnbull for what has been described in some quarters as a ‘Farrell-esque’ tackle on Zebre’s Maxime Mbanda. A reported 1000 spectators attended the match in the stadium which has a capacity of 5000.
There were wins for last seasons Finalists as Ulster eventually ran out as winners against Benetton in a match that was squared at 21 all at half time.
Winger Darcy Graham and flanker Magnus Bradbury return from injury as Edinburgh make 10 changes for Friday’s return match with Glasgow.
Edinburgh, who clinched a Pro14 home semi-final with last weekend’s 30-15 win, hand a first start to fly-half Nathan Chamberlain.
Glasgow make three alterations, with Huw Jones continuing at full-back.
George Horne replaces Ali Price at scrum-half, with Tom Gordon and Stafford McDowall also called up.
Rob Harley drops out as Gordon starts at openside, allowing Matt Fagerson to shift to number eight and Ryan Wilson to take the number six jersey.
Centre McDowall takes over from Peter Horne.
With a place in the last four against Ulster to plan for, Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill gives Charlie Shiel a start at scrum-half and Jamie Hodgson replaces the injured Grant Gilchrist in the second-row.
Simon Berghan, Nick Haining, Pierre Schoeman, Mike Willemse and James Johnstone are the other men coming into the starting XV.
“We’ve got a good squad with plenty of depth, so it’s a great chance to blood some new players and give them some experience playing in a derby match,” said Cockerill, who has named three untested academy players on his bench.
“We’re also looking after our squad and some of those key guys who are important to the way we play. We want as full and as fit a compliment of players as we can going into the semi-final.”
Captain Fraser Brown will make his 100th Glasgow appearance at Murrayfield, with 700 spectators in attendance for Scotland’s first Covid-19 test event.
“We’ve got one eye on the start of the new season and we know that squad depth is going to be tested more than ever, so it’s another chance for us to look at certain players and combinations,” said head coach Danny Wilson.
“At the same time, though, it’s all about continuing to gel and grow as a squad, and we’re looking to build some momentum.”
Edinburgh: Kinghorn, Graham, Johnstone, Dean, Van der Merwe, Chamberlain, Shiel; Schoeman, Willemse, Berghan, Haining, Hodgson, Bradbury, Watson, Mata.
Replacements: McInally, Sutherland, Nell, Sykes, Crosbie, Frostwick, Van der Walt, Gordon.
Glasgow Warriors: Jones, Seymour, Grigg, McDowall, Tagive, Hastings, G Horne; Kebble, Brown, Z Fagerson, Gray, Cummings, Wilson, Gordon, M Fagerson.
Replacements: Turner, Chapps, Pieretto, Harley, Fusaro, Price, P Horne, Nairn.
bbc
The English Premiership started last weekend after a lengthy break due to restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 virus. Domestic rugby competitions under the guise of ‘Super Rugby’ have been taking place in Australia and New Zealand. However the real rugby competition resumes tonight in Italy as Benetton and Zebre play the first of their two derby games in the re-jigged PRO14.
Clubs from 4 of the 5 nations taking part in the PRO14 will be in action this weekend, albeit in stadiums devoid of fans due to ongoing restrictions. When the South African teams, the Kings and the Cheetahs, play their next games remains a mystery. The PRO14 organizers will no doubt be pleased though that whether the Kings and Cheetahs play again this season or not it won’t make a difference to the knockout stages as neither team are in the running to get there. Had it still been possible for these teams to get to the Semi-Finals it could have posed a headache for the PRO14 with all the travel restrictions making it unlikely or very difficult for them to take part in knockout games.
The #BullsFamily is excited to confirm that current Managing Director of Ellis Park Stadium (Pty) Ltd, Edgar Rathbone, will be taking over the reigns as CEO of the Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd following the resignation of Alfons Meyer.
Rathbone, who will officially start at the Vodacom Bulls on 1 June 2020, is no stranger to the rugby environment. He has been a pillar and servant to the Lions Rugby Company and Ellis Park for the last seven years, starting his rugby journey as head of Finance and Administration in 2013.
In 2014, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer holding the position for two years, before becoming Chief Financial and Commercial Officer in 2016.
In 2017, he was appointed as the managing Director of Ellis Park Stadium, responsible for managing the Ellis Park precinct which includes Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg Stadium and Ellis Park Indoor Arena as well as being the commercial arm of Lions Rugby Company.
Jordan Venter
Edinburgh have added to their squad ahead of next season with the signing of South African centre, Jordan Venter.
Venter, 17, will link-up with the capital club in December 2020 following the conclusion of the South African academic year and joins from Stellenbosch’s Paul Roos Gymnasium School.
On signing with the club, Venter, said: “I’m very humbled by the opportunity to join Edinburgh. I’m still a young man with lots to learn, so getting the chance to develop my own game overseas is the best decision for my rugby career.
“Edinburgh, as a city and as a club, has so much heritage and tradition. While the coaching staff and squad there are phenomenal.
“I’ve also got a good relationship with some of the South African players already there, so it will make for an easy transition when I make the move to Scotland.”
Head Coach Richard Cockerill, added: “Jordan is a young, athletic centre with bags of potential. We have kept a close eye on his school career and he’ll be a welcome addition to the squad next season.”
Back row Magnus Bradbury replaces Nick Haining in the only change to the Scotland line-up for Saturday’s Six Nations visit of England.
Haining, 29, impressed on his debut last week in the 19-12 opening-day loss to Ireland but drops to the bench, with Cornell du Preez omitted altogether.
Bradbury missed the defeat in Dublin but will line up at Murrayfield.
Meanwhile, scrum-half Ben Youngs is among the senior players left out as England make five changes to their starting XV to face Scotland.
Willi Heinz replaces Youngs at nine, with flanker Lewis Ludlam in for Courtney Lawes in the wake of defeat by France on the opening weekend.
Prop Mako Vunipola and lock George Kruis return, with Jonathan Joseph replacing injured centre Manu Tuilagi.
Saracens’ Ben Earl is set for a debut as one of six forwards on the bench.
Bath hooker Tom Dunn could also win his first cap as he joins Lawes and Joe Launchbury, who has recovered from a knee injury, among the replacements.
Glasgow Warriors kicked off the New Year in the best possible fashion yesterday afternoon, running in six tries to claim a 38-19 win over Benetton in Treviso.
A brace from George Horne and a sterling defensive shift spearheaded the Warriors effort, as Dave Rennie’s men made sure all five points would be coming home with them from northern Italy.
Petrus du Plessis, tighthead and scrum coach, made his season debut coming off the bench and playing 35 minutes for the men from Scotstoun.
“This is a much-needed win for the squad,” said the 38-year-old.
“People would have counted us out because a few of our big names weren’t playing, but we believed in our squad and we did the job.”
Matt Taylor has left his role as Scotland assistant to join Australia, with former Ospreys head coach Steve Tandy named as his replacement.
Taylor had worked beside head coach Gregor Townsend since taking up a dual role as defence coach with Glasgow Warriors and Scotland in 2012.
Tandy has been Super Rugby side Waratahs’ defence coach.
Former France prop Pieter de Villiers has also joined the Scotland set-up as scrum coach.
Australia-born Taylor will work under Dave Rennie, who will become Australia head coach when the New Zealander leaves Glasgow Warriors at the end of the season, and alongside attack coach Scott Wisemantel.
Rugby Australia director of rugby Scott Johnson, the former Scotland head coach, welcomed the 47-year-old “home”.
“He’s a quality coach who has the experience, skillset and personality that we believe will fit really well in the coaching team we have assembled,” he said.
It may not strictly speaking be recognized as an international but today will see smiling Springbok Schalk Brits play in his final game against international opponents as the Barbarians face Wales in Cardiff this afternoon. The man who plays the game with an infectious smile on his face and must surely be the most popular South African to have played in England must be loving his time with the free style Barbarians has been included on the bench for the Barbarians by former Wales coach Warren Gatland.
Barbarians coach Gatland is also another favourite, of the Welsh crowd. While I have not always appreciated they way his Welsh teams have generally been set up to play the game over the years, you have to admit that he has been very successful in his time in Wales and will be a very hard act to follow.
Dave Rennie has confirmed he will leave his role as Glasgow Warriors Head Coach at the end of the season, to become the next Head Coach of Australia.
Rennie, who joined the Warriors in 2017 from Super Rugby side the Chiefs, guided his side to the Guinness PRO14 Final at Celtic Park and the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup last season.
The club came top of its Guinness PRO14 Conference in both the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, securing a record number of bonus point wins last season in the process as his attacking, all-court style of play maintained the Warriors’ position as one of the top teams in the competition.
Glasgow Warriors continued to develop exciting young talent during his first two seasons with many going on to secure international honours with Scotland, demonstrated with the selection of 19 players in Gregor Townsend’s Rugby World Cup training squad this summer.
Scottish Rugby has been fined £70,000 and ordered to apologise to World Rugby for criticism of the threatened cancellation of their World Cup Pool A game against Japan.
The match was in doubt because of the approaching Typhoon Hagibis and SRU chief executive Mark Dodson criticised World Rugby’s “rigidity”.
He hinted at legal action if the match had not gone ahead.
An independent disputes committee says he “brought the game into disrepute”.
“Prior to its decision, the committee gave the parties ample time to resolve the dispute,” it said in a statement. “World Rugby made an open offer to the SRU, which required the SRU to apologise for its conduct and make a donation to the typhoon disaster relief fund in Japan.
“The SRU suggested alternative wording, which included a mutual expression of regret from both parties – and no apology.”
Sale’s Curry Twins, Tom and Ben (on right)
Sale Sharks flanker Ben Curry says not asking if he could miss a Premiership match to fly out and watch identical twin brother Tom play for England in Saturday’s World Cup final would have been “the biggest regret” of his life.
Eddie Jones’ side face South Africa in Yokohama, a day after Ben was set to play for Sale against Bristol.
“What would I remember when I’m 60, one game against Bristol or my twin playing in a World Cup final – and possibly winning it – with me in Japan,” the 21-year-old told BBC Sport.
“When you put it in those terms I thought I had to at least ask.”
After a social media campaign #GetBenToJapan gathered momentum, Ben approached Sharks director of rugby Steve Diamond for permission and the club agreed to give him a few days off to fly out.
Sale said it was a “once in a lifetime experience” for Ben, who will leave Manchester for Japan on Tuesday morning.
A powerful typhoon that organisers have warned could impact the final weekend of the World Cup pool stage has changed course, leaving forecasters and pundits wondering which games might be affected and who could benefit.
According to the latest modelling from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Super Typhoon Hagibis is now projected to clip southeastern Japan, near Tokyo and Yokohama.
This is a significant change from Monday’s forecast, when the storm was expected to make landfall in Japan’s far southwest. However, such radical changes in direction are not unusual for typhoons nearing Japan, which sees around 20 per year.
Hagibis could also continue its easterly track and miss Japan altogether.
“The Honshu main islands will see heavy rains from as early as Friday, and the peak of the bad weather will be on Saturday and Sunday,” JMA official Yoshinori Muira said.
Hagibis is currently classed as “violent” – the JMA’s highest classification, with gusts as strong as 270 kilometres per hour (165 miles per hour). It is forecast to weaken before it nears Japan but will still be “very strong”.
If the current forecast holds, the danger would appear to be lower for crunch games in the southwest (Ireland-Samoa on Saturday in Fukuoka and Wales-Uruguay on Sunday in Kumamoto).
However, with the storm shifting east, there is now a threat for two other huge games in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo.
Japan benefited from “an incredible call” to earn a bonus point in their World Cup victory over Samoa, says Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend.
The host nation crashed over for a stoppage-time try in a 38-19 win after Samoa were punished for a squint scrum feed on their own five-metre line.
Japan meet the Scots in the hosts’ final pool match on Sunday.
“I’ve never seen a crooked feed [penalised], certainly at the World Cup or in the Six Nations,” said Townsend.
“I think it’s an incredible call to be honest. It’s something that has not been refereed and there’s been an agreement that there is more latitude for scrum-halves putting the ball in because you are the team that’s won the scrum.
“To see it in a World Cup really surprised me. To see it as we went into injury time for a game-changing decision was an even bigger surprise.”
Scotland must secure a bonus-point victory over Russia on Wednesday to close the gap on Japan to four points going into Sunday’s meeting in Yokohama.
Townsend’s side would then need to prevail against the hosts to reach the quarter-finals but could miss out with a win if Japan picked up a losing bonus point.
Townsend has made 14 changes to his starting line-up for the match with Russia, keeping key players fresh for the weekend.
Canada star DTH van der Merwe is relishing the prospect of finally facing his native South Africa in 15-a-side action when the countries meet at the Rugby World Cup.
Tuesday’s Pool B match in Kobe will be just the third time they have played each other and the first in 19 years — when current Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus featured in a 51-18 win for the two-time world champions.
It promises to be a rugby highlight for van der Merwe, a veteran of 60 Tests and stints at clubs in England, Wales and Scotland.
“Something I’ve looked forward to my whole career is to play against South Africa,” van der Merwe told reporters on Sunday.
“Now at your last World Cup it’s quite special. I did play against them in the Sevens back in the day but I’m looking forward to the opportunity,” added the 33-year-old, whose family emigrated to Canada when he was a teenager.
Meanwhile van der Merwe was in no doubt of the challenge posed by the Springboks.
“They have got a physical pack that’s complemented with a real speedy backline,” he said.
“For us it’s a great opportunity just to measure ourselves against one of the best teams in the world.”
Van der Merwe will be playing in his 15th World Cup match, a record for a Canadian.
Babalwa Latsha said the Springbok Women were determined to close off their international season on a strong note on Saturday when they meet Scotland for the second time this week at the City Park Stadium in Cape Town.
The Test will mark the Springbok Women’s sixth of the season, and with three wins – against Uganda, Madagascar and Kenya – and two defeats – against Spain and Scotland – Latsha, the team’s captain, said they are looking forward to running out in the series decider against Scotland.
“There is a buzz in the team and we are excited to face Scotland again,” said Latsha.
“It has been a learning and growing process for the team since we got together earlier this year, and I think we are on the right track. This is our last game of the year and we would really like to finish strongly, so this match is important to us.”
With most of the players in camp in Stellenbosch having made their Test debuts and the team well aware of what to expect from the visitors, who defeated them 47-5 on Monday, Latsha said they were ready to line up against Scotland again.
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It was a historic day for Scotland as they not only played their first-ever match in the Southern Hemisphere but also recorded one of their biggest victories in a decade.
Tries from Rollie, Lloyd, Gaffney, Thomson and Evans, and the ever-reliable boot of Sarah Law ensured Scotland a 5-47 win in their first Test match against South Africa in Cape Town.
All eyes will be on Bloemfontein tonight where Glasgow Warriors and Toyota Cheetahs will do battle in the opening game of the new Guinness PRO14 season.
Warriors came within a whisker of winning their second Championship in the 2018/19 campaign, only for defending champions Leinster to fend off their challenge in last season’s pulsating final.
But Glasgow will be looking to hit the ground running when they take on the South African outfit in their own backyard – something that Dave Rennie’s team selection has made clear.
Despite having several players at the Rugby World Cup, the visitors will have no fewer than nine internationals run out when Callum Gibbons leads out his side for their first bout.
Cheetahs will also be in high spirits after being crowned Currie Cup champions, with the hosts hoping to end their losing streak against Warriors – who have won their last four meetings.
Head Coach Gregor Townsend today named the Scotland side to play Ireland in the national team’s opening Rugby World Cup Pool A match at the International Stadium Yokohama (kick-off 4.45pm local time, 8.45am BST, 9.45 SA time).
The starting team – of which two-thirds have previous world cup experience – features a total of 630 Test caps, with 10 personnel changes made to the one that defeated Georgia 36-9 in the final Summer Test in Edinburgh earlier this month.
Scotland Head Coach, Gregor Townsend, said: “We’ve had a really productive week’s preparation in Nagasaki ahead of our arrival in Tokyo, with our players adapting to the time zone and weather conditions out here in Japan.
“As we’ve got closer to the game our training has been more about fine-tuning the hard work that’s gone in over pre-season into a focus for Sunday’s game.
“Our team has a lot of experience playing together in major games for Scotland, with a bench capable of making a difference when required. That cohesion, experience and leadership is very valuable in a build-up to a match of this magnitude as well as during the 80 minutes on Sunday.”
Russia coach Lyn Jones said he had a cunning plan to ambush hosts Japan in the tournament opener, revealing only that it involves a little mayhem.
The Russians, known as the Bears, will tower over their opposite numbers when they line up in Tokyo on Friday, but few people are giving them much chance of springing an upset against the world’s 10th-ranked side.
“With structured and organised sides like Japan you need to create chaos to get them to think for themselves,” Jones told AFP after naming a full-strength side led by his skipper Vasily Artemyev.
“I don’t know if they’re educated to do that, but it’s all theory anyway.
“We do have a plan,” added the former Wales international.
“We have got a formula and we think we can take Japan on and make life as difficult as possible for them.”
Russia gave Japan a fright the last times the teams met in November, the Brave Blossoms scraping a 32-27 victory in Gloucester.
1,432 days since Scotland last played a World Cup match. 1,432 days since bewildered Scotland fans ran the gamut of emotions in a cruel loss to Australia. Now it’s time to do it all again…
This game will have massive implications for Scotland. Victory means a shot at topping an RWC pool for the first time since 1991. Lose and there is absolutely no margin for error in the remaining three matches if a quarter-final place is to be achieved.
History is not in Scotland’s favour when it comes to this type of fixture. Across 18 games against other Tier 1 teams in World Cups the dark blues have managed just two previous wins.
Sale have signed South Africa scrum-half Embrose Papier on a three-month loan as World Cup cover for compatriot Faf de Klerk.
The 22-year-old plays for the Pretoria-based Bulls franchise in Super Rugby, making 23 appearances so far.
Papier made his South Africa debut against Wales in Washington DC in June 2018 and won his most recent cap in a 20-11 defeat in Cardiff last November.
He narrowly missed out on a place in the Springboks’ World Cup squad.
Stade Francais have announced the arrival of Scotland international Josh Strauss as a medical joker for at least a three-month period.
The 32-year-old South African earned his last Test cap just last Saturday when coming off the bench in Scotland’s win over Georgia in Tbilisi.
However, he was deemed surplus to requirement by Gregor Townsend when the Scots named their World Cup squad on Tuesday and he has now been snapped up on a short-term deal by the Top 14 Parisians. Strauss had been playing in recent times for Sale in the Premiership.
Scotland pulled away from a stubborn Georgia in the second half at Murrayfield to earn their third win in four World Cup warm-up matches.
It was a one-point game at the break, with unconverted tries by Ali Price and Blair Kinghorn met by three Tedo Abzhandadze penalties.
But Sam Johnson darted over to edge the Scots clear, and tries by Darcy Graham, and the Horne brothers – George and Pete – sealed victory in Scotland’s final game before their opener in Japan against Ireland on 22 September.