Townsend will recruit Blair as his assistant

GREGOR TOWNSEND is set to appoint Mike Blair to his newlook Scotland backroom staff. Blair, who works under Townsend at Glasgow Warriors, is already regarded as one of the top young coaches in the country. And the new national-team boss will take the 35-year-old with him when he replaces Vern Cotter this summer. Capped 85 times, the former Scotland skipper and scrum half is expected to be in place as an assistant for Townsend’s first game in charge against Italy in Singapore on June 10. It’s possible, however, that Blair will continue working with the Warriors under new head coach Dave Rennie and maybe even with his former club Edinburgh as part of new boss Richard Cockerill’s regime from next season. Townsend signed Blair (right) as a player from Newcastle Falcons two years ago and, when he retired last summer, put him immediately in his backroom staff. Initially he worked with the scrum-halves including Ali Price and Henry Pyrgos but impressed Townsend so much that he was given even more responsibility for all aspects of the team. Blair already commands respect from the Scotland players following an illustrious career which saw him captain his country and feature for the Lions during their 2009 tour to South Africa. Blair, who will focus on specialist skills, will be the third Glasgow coach to join Townsend on the backroom staff of the national team. Warriors defence coach Matt Taylor and forwards counterpart Dan McFarland will also quit Scotstoun for Murrayfield after Glasgow’s final Pro12 game of the season against Edinburgh on May 6. Going in the opposite direction will be current Scotland assistant coaches Jonathan Humphreys and Jason O’Halloran, both of whom will join Rennie at Glasgow. The other Scotland assistant head coach, Nathan Hines, is joining Cotter at French club Montpellier in the summer.