'Cagey': Mike Blair won’t give much away on his return home to face Scotland
Attack coach pleased with All Blacks’ playmaking combination
Mike Blair and Gregor Townsend go back a long way but Blair admits he was little more guarded when he last spoke with the Scotland head coach.
Friends will become rivals on Saturday when Townsend’s side host New Zealand in an eagerly anticipated clash at Murrayfield. The sides will also meet in Dunedin next year ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Blair, once part of Townsend’s backroom team, is now the All Blacks attack coach and will be looking for a chink in the latter’s armour as he returns to the stadium he graced with some style over his 10-year international career.
“We've been in touch this week,” said Blair after a New Zealand training session in the rain at Merchiston Castle School. “I was over after the fourth test [against South Africa] for a couple of weeks and caught up with him and always make a point to do that.
‘I contributed to quite a lot to the New Zealand victories!’
“We have a good conversation about rugby, about everything, what's going on, what direction the game's moving, but we're just a little bit more cagey around certain things, about how we believe the game's developing now and what we can do, because obviously we're up against each other now and then I think we play each other before the World Cup as well.”
Scotland have never beaten New Zealand and Blair joked that he was part of the reason. The scrum-half was involved in a couple of heavy Murrayfield defeats against the All Blacks, notably in 2010 and 2012 when the Scots lost 49-3 and 51-22.
He also recalls a game in 2005 when a teenage full-back made a big impression.
“Well, I contributed to quite a lot to the New Zealand victories in the 2000s and 2010s but it's different now,” he smiled. “I remember Isaia Toeava played his first game for the All Blacks against us as an 18-year-old in 2005, I think it was. I thought, ‘right, we're going to pepper him. We're going to make his life a misery.’ It was raining like this but, first ball, he climbs, takes it above everyone else, makes a 20-metre break. So it was ‘right, change of plan!’
Protecting the record is important
“Times have changed from that. We're fully loaded. We're ready to go. We know we need to do our best to beat the Scots team.”
Blair said protecting the 33-game unbeaten record against Scotland was important to the All Blacks who will also face Wales and England as part of the Nations Championship Northern Series.
“The records are something you are conscious of because they're such longstanding ones and that motivation about not wanting to be that team to break that record,” said Blair. “There's a lot of, not emphasis, but we're very mindful of it.
“It puts a little bit of pressure on but these guys seem to enjoy the pressure and raise their game for that.”
Blair took on the attack role earlier this year, following new head coach Dave Rennie to New Zealand. The pair had worked together previously in Japan and, a decade ago, at Glasgow Warriors. He said they were still trying to put imprint on the squad and they have now had six Test matches at the helm, four against South Africa (one win, three defeats) and two with Australia (two wins).
Twin playmaking threat
“We’re feeling good,” said Blair. “We got over on Friday, the jet lag is mainly out the bodies. We had a couple of lighter training sessions. This was our first big one so nice weather for that!
“We're in a good place, I think. We're pleased with what we did against Australia but we're also aware that playing Scotland at Murrayfield is a really big challenge. We talked about it this morning, the tightness of the games. The last four games [against Scotland] all being within eight points, so these games have been really competitive. It's another good opportunity to show the growth in our game.
“We've been together four and a half months. The team under Gregor has been seven, eight years in the making and are very cohesive and know their game well so it's going to be a big challenge for us.”
Blair is particularly pleased with how Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett have been dovetailing, at stand-off and full-back respectively, and the creative opportunities it gives them as they swap roles.
“I think Damian and Beauden have done that really well,” said Blair. “They've played a lot of test matches together. They've been in a lot of squads together. Their ability to switch in and out of first receiver and play-make from different areas is really key to our attack.”
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