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BBC News
14-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Brown 'won't take a backward step' against France
Guinness Six Nations 2025: France v ScotlandWhen: Saturday, 15 March 2025 Kick-off: 20:00 GMT Venue: Stade de France, ParisCoverage: Listen live on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland Extra & BBC Sounds, live text coverage and highlights on BBC Sport app & website. As first Six Nations starts go, being pitched in against a rampant French side looking to win the title under the lights at Stade de France is about as daunting as they that is exactly the situation Scotland lock Gregor Brown will find himself in come Saturday night in have felt that the Scottish second row - featuring two outstanding Test servants in the shape of Grant Gilchrist and Jonny Gray – has lacked a little dynamism in this championship, and perhaps that explains why Gregor Townsend has turned to the 23-year-old Glasgow Warrior to add some youthful energy."He's just turned into a real top quality, sort of nuts-and-bolts number four," said Fraser Brown, BBC pundit and a former team-mate at Glasgow."He's maybe a little bit on the short side for a second row, but what he lacks a little bit in height, he certainly doesn't lack in effort."Defensively, he works really hard. He works like a back-rower in the second row. Good lineout option, quick off the floor."He's very physical, abrasive, aggressive. He carries hard, he'll make gain-line every single time."His carry height is really good. Ball presentation is very good. You get quick ball off of him." Brown will win his ninth Scotland cap in Paris having made his debut against Canada in July last year. It will be only his fourth start and it will be fascinating to see how he measures up against the giants in the French has become an important player in Franco Smith's Glasgow squad after a difficult beginning to his career at Scotstoun."He started more as back-row and played in that URC quarter-final against Leinster in 2022 that we lost by 70 points," said Fraser Brown."He had a pretty tough couple of years after that, picked up a lot of injuries. I think if you ask him now, he probably reflects on that as a pretty low point in his career, but also probably kind of the making of him because he certainly managed to develop some resilience."I've got nothing but good things to say about Gregor. I wanted him to be in the starting Scotland team from the second week of this Six Nations to be honest. I'm really pleased that he's got a start."I think it's going to be a tough ask for him in France against that pack. But certainly, knowing the character he is, he won't take a backward step."
BBC News
13-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Gray dropped as Townsend makes two Scotland changes
Guinness Six Nations 2025: France v ScotlandWhen: Saturday, 15 March 2025 Kick-off: 20:00 GMT Where: Stade de France, ParisCoverage: Listen live on BBC Radio Scotland Extra & BBC Sounds, follow live text coverage on BBC Sport app & website. Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has made two changes to his line-up for Saturday's final Six Nations match away to Brown starts in the second row in place of the benched Jonny Gray while Matt Fagerson replaces Jack Dempsey in the back row, with Dempsey out with a hamstring Marshall Sykes, back-rower Ben Muncaster and versatile back Jamie Dobie come into the squad as Scots have two wins so far in this year's championship. More to Kinghorn, Graham, Jones, Jordan, Van der Merwe; Russell (co-captain), White; Schoeman, Cherry, Z Fagerson, Brown, Gilchrist, Ritchie, Darge (co-captain), M FagersonReplacements: Ashman, Sutherland, Hurd, J Gray, Sykes, Muncaster, Dobie, McDowall.
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'He's so much fun to watch' - the rise of Kinghorn
Guinness Six Nations 2025: France v ScotlandWhen: Saturday, 15 March 2025 Kick-off: 20:00 GMT Where: Stade de France, ParisCoverage: Listen live on BBC Radio Scotland Extra & BBC Sounds, follow live text coverage on BBC Sport app & website. Having been part of the all-conquering Toulouse side that swept all before them last season, Blair Kinghorn is now tasked with trying to halt his superstar team-mates in France colours from completing their charge towards the Six Nations head for Paris and their final match of the tournament hoping to derail what looks like an unstoppable French juggernaut fresh from a clinical dismantling of a previously unbeaten Ireland won a Champions Cup and Top 14 double with Toulouse last season, a far cry from his days as one of the shining lights in a consistently under-performing Edinburgh has taken his game to another level and Scotland are now reaping the benefit. Aside from a poor showing against Ireland - along with the rest of the Scotland team - Kinghorn has enjoyed an excellent Six statistics show him at the top of the charts for carries, metres carried, metres gained and offloads as well as second for player-of-the-match display, which included two tries, in the victory against Wales was one of his best in a Scotland shirt, suggesting the 28-year-old is hitting his peak. From makeshift 10 to star full-back Kinghorn has always been a player blessed with incredible natural attributes and an outstanding all-round talent means he has been deployed in various positions along the back-line for Scotland. Indeed, he has scored two Six Nations hat-tricks against Italy - one from the wing (in 2019), and one from fly-half (in 2023).That decision to convert Kinghorn into a number 10 for Edinburgh and Scotland - dubbed 'the Blair-Switch Project' - stemmed from a desire to find a suitable alternative to Finn Russell for the national adaptability meant he offered plenty in that role, but Kinghorn comes alive in the open field that only comes while playing in the back three, and it is in the more familiar role of full-back he is now fly-half experiment may have been beneficial in the long run, however, with that knowledge of being the team's chief playmaker now informing how he sees the game from the deeper full-back position. "I do think having an appreciation for how difficult it is for a 10 helps you in your position as a 15," said Scotland's record points-scorer Chris Paterson, who at times in his own career flitted between fly-half and full-back."If you've played 10, you know what you're looking for. Then if you drop to 15, by definition, you kind of know what the opposition 10 is looking for. "So it allows you to be in position quicker, because you can almost read the play."The skillsets are quite similar as well. You spend a bit of time in the backfield as a 10, you'll spend a bit of time kicking as a 15."It also helps you take pressure off the 10 you're playing alongside, because it's a vulnerable position and it's an exposed position. Almost every decision feels as if it has to go through as a 10."His physical attributes - his speed, his size, his height, his ability to dominate space in the air, to catch a ball above his head - and his skill set - his distribution, his timing onto the ball, his kicking - is excellent."As a 15, you need to be an all-round package, the physical attributes and the skill set, and he's got the lot." 'They love Kinghorn in France' Kinghorn's understanding of where and when to arrive into the attacking line was evident in some of the stunning tries constructed against England and Wales.A show reel of Kinghorn's X-factor moments would be a long one, and since his move to link-up with the galacticos of Toulouse, there is now a maturity to his game to complement the fireworks."Blair Kinghorn is so much fun to watch," said Johnnie Beattie, the former Scotland number eight who now lives and works in France covering the Top 14."He's class and a good character as well, which us Scots love, but they love him here in France too."Starting on the wing or at full-back for Toulouse, he's been phenomenal. With the power he plays behind, the creativity, the opportunities and space he's given on the ball, he's been exceptional."He's a wonderful athlete. This is the longest run of games we've seen him start for Scotland at full-back, and he's been excellent."I'm really hoping he gets on that Lions plane as well this summer because he's been tremendous."
