Scotland team to face Ireland in Six Nations

Blair Kinghorn celebrates with Scotland players

Blair Kinghorn will make his first start for Scotland on Saturday after being named in Gregor Townsend's side for their pivotal Six Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin.

The Edinburgh wing's inclusion is the only alteration to the team which beat England last time out as he replaces the injured Tommy Seymour.

Kinghorn made his debut off the bench in that triumphant Calcutta Cup win over the Auld Enemy a fortnight ago and will now hope to play a part in a victory over Joe Schmidt's side as the Dark Blues look to claw their way back into Championship contention.

Townsend said: "We were delighted with the result against England and backing up our win against France with an improved performance.

"The intent we showed in attack and defence in the first half was very encouraging and we continued to work hard in the second half. The effort that went into denying England a second try in the closing minutes was great to see.

"Our players had prepared very well for the challenge of taking on England and there has been a similar focus and commitment this week at training.

"There are a few areas of our game that we are working to improve and we are aware that we will have to be better if we are to beat a very good Ireland side in Dublin."

Scotland team to play Ireland

FORWARDS: 1 Gordon Reid (London Irish), 2 Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby), 3 Simon Berghan (Edinburgh Rugby), 4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), 5 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors), 6 John Barclay (CAPTAIN, Scarlets), 7 Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby), 8 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors)

BACKS: 9 Greig Laidlaw (Clermont Auvergne), 10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors), 11 Sean Maitland (Saracens), 12 Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors), 13 Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors), 14 Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby), 15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)

REPLACEMENTS: 16 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), 17 Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors), 18 Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby), 19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), 20 David Denton (Worcester Warriors), 21 Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors), 22 Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors), 23 Lee Jones (Glasgow Warriors)

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