Scotland confident despite World Cup group of death as Blair Kinghorn makes 'beat anyone in the world' claim

Blair Kinghorn insists Scotland have the confidence they can beat ‘anyone' as preparations continue to ramp up towards the Rugby World Cup.

The Scots have been in France for some warm-weather training and to familiarise themselves with their base for the tournament in the autumn.

Having been worked hard in the heat of Nice to complete ‘block one’ of their preparations, they are ready to step up plans ahead of the global get-together that kicks off in September.

Having been drawn in the same pool as Grand Slam winners Ireland and reigning champions South Africa, as well as a beefed-up Tonga, Gregor Townsend’s men could hardly have had it any harder and are not expected by some to make it to the knock-out stages.

But, after a successful Six Nations that saw them seal wins over England, Wales and Italy, and fall to narrow defeats to Ireland and France, Kinghorn reckons there is growing belief that Scotland could spring a surprise.

Last year’s victories over Fiji and Argentina, and battling losses to Australia and New Zealand in the autumn, hinted at promising improvements for a team now ranked fifth in the world.

The Edinburgh Rugby back said: “The boys are confident. I think we’ve always been confident in our ability to perform well. Over the last year we’ve had a lot of big wins. We beat England and we pushed New Zealand pretty close.

“Performances like that give the boys a lot of confidence we can go out and beat anyone in the world. I think it does help having a little bit of wind in your sails. It’s exciting times, really.”

Warm-up matches against Italy and Georgia, as well as home and away against hosts France, will help Scotland hone their preparations in the build-up to their opening World Cup outing against the Springboks on September 10.

But Kinghorn, who is expected to push Stuart Hogg hard for a starting berth at full-back, is adamant that, for now, the players are fully concentrated on the gruelling fitness work that is designed to ensure they are in peak condition come game-time.

The 26-year-old told Scottish Rugby: “Pre-season’s always pretty tough, coming off the back of a holiday, but the boys have flown into it and I feel as if we’re getting a lot out of it. We’re working hard and seeing some progress being made.

“I think everyone’s having a good time and the spirits seem to be high. We are doing a lot of fitness, but we’re doing a lot of it in our rugby sessions, so it’s very specific to how we want to play the game.

“They’re trying to make it as rugby-related as possible, because you can do a lot of straight-line running and it’s very dull and boring, and you probably don’t practice your skills under pressure.

“Whereas now we’re doing fitness in rugby games and it makes your decisions under pressure, when you’re under fatigue, a bit better.

“Our pre-season games are still miles away, I think everyone’s just focused on getting themselves in really good physical shape and laying a good foundation to go into ‘block two’ and the games when they come up.”