Mike Blair is eager to get to grips with his new role as All Blacks attack coach with plenty of talent to work with.
The former Scotland scrum-half began his coaching career at Glasgow Warriors, working with new All Blacks boss Dave Rennie, before being appointed as Edinburgh boss.
The 44-year-old made the bold decision to step down from the position in 2023, citing the fact that he was comfortable working as an assistant coach and has since cited a lack of support as the reason.
Blair currently plays for the Kobe Steelers with Rennie, and at the end of the Japan Rugby League Season One, the pair will turn their attention to the All Blacks full time.
Having worked in Scotland and Japan, the front nine has learned to adapt to the skills of the players at his disposal and says New Zealand is in a fortunate position where it can game plan and select players to suit that system, when the opposite is required for other teams and nations.
Success of Gregor Townsend
That’s why he believes Gregor Townsend is doing a great job as Scotland head coach after guiding the team to third place in the Six Nations.
“Yeah, I guess there’s a point to that,” Blair told them Aotearoa Rugby Podcast when asked if Scotland’s lack of depth forces coaches to constantly innovate.
“You’ve got to credit Gregor Townsend; he’s outstanding; he’s very committed to Scottish rugby. He’s very opinionated about the way he goes about his job. He doesn’t talk about what the players can’t do, he talks about what the players can do. He’s created a great environment in Scotland.”
Blair is well-versed in the ins and outs of Scottish Rugby after being manager of his country, working as head coach at Edinburgh and having an assistant under Townsend.
“Scotland traditionally haven’t had big age groups, but when you look at it, you only need one or two boys from each age group to be successful.
“Glasgow have done brilliantly in the last seven or eight years since the Rens when we were in the final, they won it in 2015 and they won it two years ago, so they’ve done a good job of bringing young Scottish players into the winning environment and Edinburgh hasn’t been as successful but they’re still bringing young Scottish players.
“So the ability to get the best out of the players you have is very important, and the good thing is because the way of Scotland, the wisdom of winning, continues; the players are coming when they are winning games instead of coming in my time, maybe you were not used to losing, but there was no expectation of winning, which is also Scotland; As time goes by, the pressure on Scotland is working. It is increasing, but I believe that Scotland It’s just had its best Six Nations to date and Gregor is doing a great job getting the best out of that group.”
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Why are all Black people so lucky
This led him to compare the situation in Scotland with New Zealand, believing that the All Blacks are in a fortunate position with the talent pool at home despite the abundance of stars still playing abroad.
“We are lucky in New Zealand. The depth of the players is better. Rens showed me that about 110 New Zealanders are playing overseas in top leagues across Japan, the UK and France,” he added.
“So, this is a New Zealand mix that doesn’t have players as part of it. The strength and depth of New Zealand rugby is huge, and it’s about getting the cohesion, the right plan and the field game.”
Blair has been busy gambling as he didn’t expect to get a job with the All Blacks, and as a result missed out on Super Rugby Pacific action. But that has changed as he evaluates the players he can use while creating a plan that will suit the team going forward.
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He adds that he is still paying attention to the strength and style of the All Blacks teams.
“I’ve been watching old All Blacks and Super Rugby games, trying to find players in shape, looking at how individual teams play, and what would suit our staff,” he continued.
“The good thing about the quality and depth of players in New Zealand is that you can pick a team that plays a certain way. What we need to know is how we’re going to try to play the game, have that unity in the coaching staff, then pick a team that can play that way, then execute the plan as best we can.
I remember 2005, I think it was my first game against New Zealand, and it rained for a couple of days for the Murrayfield game, and we could see the way they moved the ball at first, and we thought they wouldn’t.
“They’re going to kick it up and they’re going to kick it, and I swear, like the sloppiness of this wide attack, we went from their 22 to their 22 in about 14 seconds. That ability to move the ball is something that’s usually big in New Zealand’s attack because there’s a lot of good people. That’s what we want with our big, strong players. in the outer channel.
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A general approach
After his time as a head coach, Blair can’t do anything but look at the game in detail and not get tunnel vision only in attack.
“I also realize that it’s about game strategy, how do you use your kicking game to switch the team back to you to break up the game so you get these singles in the wide channels?
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“So that the balance between the movement of the ball, the ability to find v-ones, but also to use the kicking game to break the game to find these broken or unorganized fouls is very important.”
However, there is no secret sauce for a successful attack, according to the Scotsman, but there is one key point.
“I don’t think the secret is in how you play or how you play, it’s finding something that everyone is comfortable with and can commit to.”
“Ultimately, you’re creating a multi-threat attack, which is one of the most important things to me.”
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