Captain fantastic

Since joining Edinburgh in 2002 Mike Blair's professional career has gone from strength to strength: the current Edinburgh rugby captain and Scotland captain already has 50 international caps to his name, and is now being hotly tipped for the starting scrum-half jersey on this summer’s Lions tour to South Africa.

He is, it seems, a player who can do little wrong at the moment. So, I give the 28-year-old Edinburgher a brief respite from training to talk about his club side, the Six Nations and his Lions ambition.

Edinburgh currently occupy second place in the Magners League and are hoping to build on their best previous finish of forth last year in the remaining eight fixtures of the season. But what's still exciting the scrum half is the previous week's Boxing Day 39-6 win over Scottish rivals Glasgow which, says Blair, was best performance by Edinburgh so far.

“I think it was the best concerted effort we have had this season,” he says, adding that “as an 80 minutes it was definitely up there with the best this season.”

After the terrific victory over Glasgow, Edinburgh lost the return fixture a week later – but still lifted the David Lloyd Cup thanks to their overall aggregate win.

Despite lifting the silverware, the Edinburgh captain is quick to play down it’s importance but admitted it was good to win it for the fans: “Having taken the bragging rights is a good thing. It was great for the club and the supporters for us to lift the trophy but ultimately it is where we finish in the league and how we progress year on year league wise that is important.”

Edinburgh have been criticised this season for not being clinical enough to win the bonus points that could make all the difference to their final league standing. Mike believes this criticism is unfair and that their inability to score bonus points is testament to the competitiveness of this year’s league rather than any Edinburgh underachievement.

He reasons: “All teams have lost games they could have won. There is so little between the league positions that if we can produce some consistent results then we will definitely be challenging at the top end.”

Despite Edinburgh’s commendable league position, their European efforts in the Heineken Cup have so far come up short. Having won their first away game in France against Castres, the Murrayfield men fell to consecutive defeats at the hands of reigning English Champions, London Wasps.

But Blair staunchly defends Edinburgh’s performances: “The quality of the European Cup is such that you need to be on the top of your game all the time and you need a couple of things to go for you.”

He adds: “If you make one slip-up then you’re out of the competition and that’s where we find ourselves now.”

With Glasgow only six points behind top spot in the Magners League, the Scotland captain is confident the national side can do well in this year’s Six Nations.

“We’ve moved on as a national side. We have a better depth of squad now. In previous years if guys couldn’t play there wasn’t the quality to back them up. But now we have 30-35 players all capable of playing at international level. It’s now up to the players to respond to that and play at a level the coaches and the supporters are happy with.”

Blair is particular about the importance of a balanced and consistent squad: “a settled squad breeds success,” he argues. Perhaps unexpectedly, he draws on one of Scotland's recent failures in positive terms, highlighting Argentina’s 2007 World Cup success—which included a 19-13 win over Scotland in the quarter finals—as testament to what a small country can do with a consistent squad.

“They had been together for six years and almost performed like a club team as they knew each other that well. That’s where we are trying to get to with Scotland. We have a young squad with an average age of around 26 so hopefully this squad will stay together and build success from this."

Alongside Wales’ Mike Phillips the Scotland captain is favourite to take the Lions number nine jersey this summer in South Africa but he claims this won’t put any extra pressure on him during this years Six Nations.

“You can only do your best in the games you are playing in. I think a lot of the lions selections will depend on how counties perform in the six nations.”

It's this pragmatic approach to the game which is shown by his emphasis on team performance rather than individual excellence: “It is about the team and not individual battles," he declares confidently.

"If you work well as units then that pushes you as an individual forward and that’s what I will be concentrating on.”

Should he be named in the provisional Lions squad released at the end of January, the scrum-half would be honoured with the opportunity to play alongside the best players Britain has to offer.

“I think the honour of being chosen as the best player in the British Isles is a massive honour to have...As a player it is something you aspire to.”

With Edinburgh in position to contest for the Magners League title and Scotland having a settled squad for this years Six Nations, it is going to be a busy few months for the number nine. But, certainly on current form, he appears to be more than up to the challenge.