Mike Blair accepts the Scotland scrum-half opening might be a revolving door right the way through the Rugby World Cup, but plans to show in the remainder of the Magners League season that he is once again the number one choice for the key role.
Blair showed signs of a return to his best form latterly in the RBS Six Nations and in last week’s Edinburgh win over Magners League champions Ospreys, and he again teams up with Greg Laidlaw at half-back against Connacht in Galway as the capital club seek a strong finish to the season.
The former Scotland captain admitted he felt he could have had more of an impact in the Six Nations, making only one start against Ireland, and that he had approached head coach Andy Robinson to state his case more firmly to be considered ahead of rivals Rory Lawson and Chris Cusiter.
“I have spoken to Andy and Gregor (Townsend) and I asked them the same question. I am a competitive guy and I’m not moaning about selection, but I want to tell you what can I do to become your number one scrum-half.
“They were very positive and told me to keep my core skills, my main positive being bringing guys into the game, what I do around the rucks and challenging the defence while keeping pushing on my basic skills to make them as good as possible to ensure I can play different types of game.
“I feel that I play best when I have the total backing of the coach, and when he is saying you are the number one scrum-half. I think I have had that through my career at times.
“Andy has said how confident he is in what I am trying to do, but we have other scrum-halves as well and you can’t back every single one.
“Sometimes it’s just opportunities. I came on against England and was able to attack lazy defending late in the game. Rory came on for the last 20 minutes against Ireland and had nearly as many passes as I had in the first hour.”More to offerBlair said he was happy with his contribution in the Six Nations but is still looking for more.
“From 2006 to 2009, for four-and-a-half seasons I was first choice scrum-half and that is what I got used to,” he continued.
“Although I was still relatively pleased with the contributions I made this year it is a long way from where I want to be and the contributions I want to be making.
“It’s in my hands, especially hard in the scrum-half position where Andy can’t just back one guy. Essentially Rory was chosen ahead of me, I was told, because his basics as a scrum-half were better than mine, so my focus is improving those basics and working on them.”
That starts with a strong finish to the season and Connacht away is a possible tripwire for Edinburgh even after last week’s morale-boosting win.
“They have been slowly progressing every year and made their biggest jump this year in performance and results,” he said. “We have to be wary of them because we have not had good results against them over the last three or four years.”
Glasgow are in Italy for a fortnight double-header, starting at bottom club Aironi, and welcome back centre Graeme Morrison, whose knee injury in January cost him any involvement in the Six Nations but who assumes the captaincy on his return to the side.
Peter Murchie moves to full-back to cover a stomach bug-struck Bernie Stortoni while Henry Pyrgos, Ryan Grant, Pat McArthur and Tom Ryder are in to start in further changes from the team that lost on the last kick to Ulster last week.
Murchie and McArthur have both signed new two-year deals with the club, who also have announced that former Leeds tight-head prop Michael Cusack, currently with Doncaster Knights, will join the club from next season.