Mike Blair sees the All Blacks coaching job as an opportunity to \u2018fix\u2019 his regrettable stint with the British and Irish Lions as a player.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old ex-Scotland scrum-half was initially left out of the 2009 Lions squad to tour South Africa but received a call-up following the injury to Tomas O\u2019Leary \u2013 his sole nod for the famous touring squad during his 15-year-long career.<\/p>\n
He went on to represent the Lions<\/a> in the matches against the Royal XV, Sharks and Southern Kings, but was unable to twist Ian McGeechan\u2019s arm and earn a Test appearance, with the head coach preferring Mike Phillips and Harry Ellis instead.<\/p>\n Playing down Rennie\u2019s offer<\/p>\n Blair, who captained Scotland during his career, was overlooked for future Lions selections and says that he regrets his time with the touring team.<\/p>\n Whilst he has had prior international coaching experience with Scotland, he sees his new role as an assistant to new All Blacks<\/a> head coach Dave Rennie as a chance to make the most of a massive opportunity, which he was unable to do during his playing career.<\/p>\n He disclosed that after detailing how Rennie began conversations about him being part of his coaching team, and his wife\u2019s reaction.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, he said, \u2018Do you want to uh do you want to catch up?\u2019 And you usually with Rens, there\u2019s a reason why you catch up,\u201d Blair<\/a> told the Aotearoa Rugby Podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cSo my mind was kind of worrying as to what this could be. I met him, and we got the small talk out of the way. And he said, \u2018Look, I\u2019m considering applying for the job.\u2019 He said, \u2018I\u2019m not 100% going to go for it at this stage, but I\u2019m looking at what it would look like and how you would feel about being the attack coach?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the things I thought he might have been asking about, but hadn\u2019t really planned an answer at all. So, I just smiled and said, \u2018Let me think about it.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to play it cool, don\u2019t you, at the start? So played it cool, said \u2018let\u2019s have a think about it\u2019. My wife and daughter were planning to go back to Edinburgh at the end of this year anyway. My son\u2019s already in Scotland, so that was a bit of a consideration, but it didn\u2019t take long to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n New All Blacks coach has worked for three years to \u2018get rid\u2019 of Wayne Smith\u2019s \u2018mantra\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Mrs Blair\u2019s reaction and Lions disappointment<\/p>\n While the Kobe attack coach played down the opportunity when speaking to Rennie, his wife had an entirely different reaction.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, when I told my wife before I could finish saying what I\u2019d been asked to do, she was like, \u2018You\u2019ve got to do it, you\u2019ve got to do it, you\u2019re doing it, we\u2019ll make it work,’\u201d Blair continued.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know whether she was just happy to get a little bit of a break from me. But, no, she was thrilled about it as well. One of the best bits for me was being able to tell other people. The reactions I got from family and friends. But I\u2019ve also got the back of my mind that this is a nice ice job role to have, but my work starts once we get in.\u201d<\/p>\n Rieko Ioane hails \u2018priceless\u2019 Jacques Nienaber while All Blacks star opens up on being dropped by Scott Robertson<\/a><\/p>\n He concluded: \u201cI had big regrets when I got chosen for the British and Irish Lions, and I was pleased I\u2019d been selected for it, but I didn\u2019t make the most of my opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cI regret my time with the British and Irish Lions. So, I see this as an opportunity to fix that to have another go at this, where I\u2019ve been given this great job role and great title, but my work starts once we get in, and the results start happening, and I see what we\u2019re able to achieve in attack.\u201d<\/p>\n