Mike Blair
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Michael Robert Leighton Blair (born 20 April 1981) is a Scottish
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
coach who was formerly a professional player and the most capped Scottish scrum half in history. He is currently assistant coach of the Kobe Steelers. He was previously the head coach of
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, and also was an assistant coach with
Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...
and then an assistant coach of the Scottish national team. He played at scrum-half for
Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...
,
Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...
,
CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze, Corrèze department. Brive is a historical member of French rugby un ...
and
Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...
. He represented the
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
national side 85 times, as well as the touring with the
British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...
in 2009. He retired from playing on 21 April 2016 aged 35. He was the first Scottish player to be nominated for the title of IRB World Player of the Year.


Rugby Union career


Professional career

Blair spent most of his club career at Edinburgh, and was named in the Pro12 Dream team at the end of the 2007/08 season. Blair was Edinburgh Player of the year in 2006 and 2008, Scotland Pro Team Player of the Year in 2008, and Scotland Player of the Year in 2008. He was nominated for the IRB Player of the Year in 2008, the first Scot to be nominated for this award. That year he featured in a list of the 50 best rugby players in the world by The Independent newspaper. Blair spent the 2012–13 season playing in France with Brive helping them to gain promotion back to the Top 14. Blair then returned to the UK to play for the Newcastle Falcons in the English Premiership. He joined Glasgow Warriors for the 2015/16 season, becoming Glasgow Warrior No. 248 and he finished this playing career at the club.


International career

Blair's international debut came on 15 June 2002 against
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and scored his first try for his country in the same game. Blair was a member of Scotland's 2003, 2007 and 2011 World Cup squads. Blair was injured playing for Edinburgh against the Llanelli Scarlets in January 2007 and required surgery on his shoulder which prevented him from playing in the entire
2007 Six Nations Championship The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen ma ...
. Blair was made captain of his country for the first time against
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in the
2008 Six Nations Championship The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship. Fifteen ...
and for the next 12 consecutive games. At the 2008 Six Nations, he captained his squad to a 15–9 victory over England at Murrayfield to win the 2008 Calcutta Cup. He captained the national side 14 times in total. Blair made his 50th appearance against
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
in 2008 (2nd test). Having been left out of the original Lions touring squad to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
in 2009, Blair was called up as a replacement for the injured Tomás O'Leary on 11 May, starting against The Presidents XV and the
Southern Kings The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They w ...
and coming off the bench against the
Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...
. Blair was included in Scotland's
2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...
Squad. He scored the first try in the team's first match against
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on 10 September, a 34–24 victory to Scotland. He started against
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
later in the tournament winning his 75th cap. Blair earned his final cap before retirement against South Africa in November 2012. Blair got 85
caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...
for his country. He is Scotland's most capped scrum-half of all time.


Coaching career

In the 2014–15 season, Blair became assistant coach of Ponteland Rugby Club. After finishing playing with
Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...
, Blair then became an assistant coach at the club, first under Gregor Townsend and then under Dave Rennie. Townsend brought Blair into the Scotland coaching set-up and he was assistant coach to Scotland. He moved to become a head coach at Edinburgh. After a relatively successful first season with Edinburgh, his side finished higher than Glasgow Warriors for the first time in over a decade, the second season proved lacklustre. Blair quit Edinburgh as head coach, reasoning that he preferred the more hands on role as an attack coach. For the 2023-24 season, he will once again team up with his former
Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...
boss
Dave Rennie Dave Rennie (born 22 November 1963) is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player. He will take over the Kobe Steelers as head coach for the 2023–24 season. He previously was the head coach of the Austral ...
as assistant coach. Rennie will be the head coach of Kobe Steelers.


Personal life

Blair attended the
Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...
. He is married with two children. Blair has an older brother Peter, and two younger brothers, David and Alex.
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
played fly half for Sale Sharks and
Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...
between 2007 and 2011, and Alex, who also played for
Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...
from 2010 to 2011.


References


External links


Scotland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Mike 1981 births Living people Scottish rugby union players People educated at Edinburgh Academy British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Rugby union scrum-halves Rugby union players from Edinburgh Edinburgh Rugby players CA Brive players Scotland international rugby union players Boroughmuir RFC players Edinburgh Academicals rugby union players Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Glasgow Warriors players Glasgow Warriors coaches Alumni of Durham University Durham University RFC players Newcastle Falcons players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players Male rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for Scotland Rugby sevens players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Scotland international rugby sevens players Scottish expatriate rugby union players in France Expatriate rugby union coaches Scottish rugby union coaches Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Japan Edinburgh Rugby coaches