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Blair Kinghorn confident Scotland can defeat England in Six Nations

Scotland's Blair Kinghorn
Image: Blair Kinghorn is confident Scotland can retain the Calcutta Cup

Blair Kinghorn insists Scotland have the tools to unpick England on Saturday.

The key to opening up the Auld Enemy's defence has been held by Finn Russell in recent times but the fly-half will be absent again at Murrayfield after being disciplined for an alleged late-night drinking session.

Scotland were beaten 19-12 by Ireland last weekend after wasting a string of golden opportunities - including skipper Stuart Hogg's horror try-line fumble.

But Edinburgh full-back Kinghorn is confident Scotland have the firepower required to beat England.

He said: "Finn is a great player but I have full belief in everyone in the team.

"Adam Hastings played really well on Saturday against Ireland. And it is great to see boys like Huw Jones coming back into some form. He's a devastating player.

"I fully believe we have all the creativity we need. The review after the Ireland game was good. We've did some really positive things on Saturday but we know games like that we need to win.

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Blair Kinghorn is tackled by Ireland's Jordan Larmour
Image: Kinghorn won his 18th Scotland cap against Ireland last weekend

"Losing is not fun at all. We had chances to win but we gave away too many penalties and turnover ball at crucial points.

"It's something we've looked pretty hard at but it's never nice to lose, especially when we had not won over there for 10 years, so it was a big opportunity.

"Every time you come back from a loss you come in, look at the footage and try to bounce onto the next game - and there is no better one than England at home.

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"Everyone is looking to get stuck in. We were frustrated after the game but it's one of those things.

"It's a quick turnaround so we've only got time to look at the things we can improve and then move on.

"It would mean everything to win on Saturday. It's a massive game at home and we want to retain the Calcutta Cup and the points for the table."

A tearful Laidlaw is consoled alongside Scotland teammates after defeat in Yokohama
Image: Scotland crashed out at the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup in Japan

Scotland were glad to leave 2019 behind after a disappointing championship campaign which produced just one win was followed up by a pool-stage exit at the World Cup.

The defeat to Andy Farrell's team last week was not the way they were hoping to start the Six Nations but Kinghorn hopes to kick-start Scotland's season this weekend.

"We've not had the results we've wanted in the last year or so," he confessed. "We all know that and have all held our hands up to that. But we're working hard to fix it.

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"Even though we didn't get the result last week, we showed some really positive things away to Ireland.

"So Saturday is a massive game for us. I fully belief we can get a result and that can kick-start a really successful year for us.

"Everyone in the team is really positive and we have full belief in ourselves that we can put in a winning performance."

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