MIKE Blair’s reputation as the most promising Scottish coach of his generation has been further bolstered by his promotion to Gregor Townsend’s national coaching team next season. The 36-year-old, a former Scotland scrum-half and captain, will move along with Matt Taylor and Dan McFarland, who, like him, are Townsend’s assistants with Glasgow Warriors. He will, however, retain a role at Scotstoun, where he will be based outwith the international windows.
Blair’s title will be skills coach, and his new role will begin after tomorrow’s 1872 Cup match between Glasgow and Edinburgh, the last game of the season. “I’m delighted to take on this role with Scotland at an exciting time in the team's development,” he said yesterday.
“I'm fortunate that I am able to maintain my involvement with Glasgow Warriors, where I have been coaching a talented group of players in a hugely positive environment. Being a young coach, I feel very lucky to work with coaches of the calibre of Gregor and Dave [Rennie, the Warriors’ new head coach for next season] and hope I can contribute to further successes for both Scotland and Glasgow on the pitch.”
Blair began coaching while he was still a Newcastle Falcons player, taking charge of local club Ponteland. When he came to Scotstoun at the start of last season it was as a player/coach, and according to Townsend he has developed quickly since giving up playing almost exactly a year ago.
“Mike has thrived as a coach since his retirement from playing at the end of last season,” Townsend said. “He’s proven to be an excellent addition to the Warriors’ backroom staff and I’m delighted to bring that expertise into the Scotland set-up. He will perform a similar role with the national team, which will be focused on three areas: assisting with our attack, improving our skills, and also working closely with our group of scrum-halves.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors have continued their overhaul of the playing squad for next season by announcing the release of six more players: long-serving full-back Peter Murchie, winger Junior Bulumakau, scrum-half Nemia Kenatale, centre Fraser Lyle, stand-off Hagen Schulte and lock Tjiuee Uanivi. “We’d like to wish all our leavers the very best in the next stage of their careers,” Townsend added. “They’ve all made a tremendous contribution to the club and I’m sure our supporters will show their gratitude after our game against Edinburgh on Saturday.”
The team for that match will be announced today, with hooker Fraser Brown, for one, hoping to ensure the Warriors can end the season on a high after last week’s narrow loss to Leinster finally ended their hopes of a PRO12 play-off place. “It was like our season was captured in that game,” Brown said. “We had really poor spells, but were then completely untouchable at other points in the game.
“That’s just how we seem to have gone this year – we’ve played some brilliant rugby but we’ve let ourselves down at key moments. It just fuels the desire to go out this weekend and put in the best performance we can.”
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