MIKE Blair believes that the Scotland team he has helped prepare for today’s meeting with the All Blacks has more reason to believe they can make history than he and his team-mates had in their playing days.
The former international scrum-half and captain who is now Scotland’s assistant coach, played on four losing Scotland teams against the Kiwis.
There was nothing unusual in that since Scotland have never beaten the New Zealanders in 30 attempts, but the gulf between the sides was such that Blair’s teams were no-hopers before they took the field, to the extent that they repeatedly found themselves up against what one New Zealand journalist yesterday described as “development teams” and were still routinely thrashed.
He last faced them in 2012, however, since when there have been more encouraging signs within the domestic game, while the national side has climbed the world rankings and Blair believes that has changed their mindset when getting ready to take on the All Blacks.
“We’ve got guys who are coming through a generation where things have been a little bit more successful, where Glasgow have won a league, Edinburgh have been in a European Challenge Cup final, there’s been more success with Scotland,” Blair noted.
“So maybe in the era where I played and there wasn’t as much success and you’re more concerned about… not concerned about what people think, but concerned how the game might go, (whereas) I think these guys have a lot of confidence in what they’re doing individually and what we’ve done as a team and how we’ve progressed as a team.”
He also suggested that there are players in the current squad who have shown their capacity to raise their game against the leading nations.
While they have sought to strike the balance between feeding off the excitement of this opportunity and trying to ensure that they go through their processes in normal fashion, he consequently believes that the nature of this fixture it is bound to have a subconscious effect.
“I don’t think the build-up is massively different, outwardly, but individuals will enjoy coming up against the best in the world,” said Blair. “Finn Russell, for example, he loves a challenge. He hasn’t outwardly said it but, I’m sure, he’ll love the chance to put himself up against one of the best 10s in the world and see how it goes. I expect him to rise to the challenge.
“This is going to be one of the biggest matches of the year, playing the No. 1 ranked team in the world, at home, in front of a sell-out crowd, but these guys get excited playing for Scotland, regardless. This just takes it up a notch.”
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