Blair admits he’s unsure about future coaching job

Glasgow warriors assistant Mike Blair is not yet sure if his fledgling coaching career will continue at Scotstoun next season but hopes to sort things out with incoming chief Dave Rennie in the near future.

Scotland’s most-capped scrum-half hung up his boots last term after a season as player-coach and has since moved to a role on Gregor Townsend’s backroom staff.

Much of the new coaching landscape for Glasgow and Scotland is in place for when Townsend takes the national team reins at the end of the season, although Blair and fellow assistant Kenny Murray are yet to find out where their future lies.

“As an Edinburgh guy I was slightly apprehensive coming to Glasgow but, right from the start, I have been made really welcome, first as a player and now as a coach,” said Blair. “I am loving my time here and will find out what is going on in the next couple of months.

“I am led to believe he [Rennie] is over in the next couple of months and we will nail things down.

“It is almost as frustrating a position for a coach as for a player. You are just waiting for the pieces of the jigsaw to fall together. Dave

will have his ideas and I will have to wait.

“There are things I would like to do and will push for but I will be asked what my opinion is at some point.

“My contract is up at the end of the season, so the discussions all go on around that. I have loved my time here at Glasgow. I’ve been really fortunate to come into a coaching team like Glasgow have got.

“That is where we are at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Glasgow have stressed that Ryan Grant remains a Warriors player despite Brive’s declaration that he will join them on loan.

The French club announced on Tuesday that Grant’s arrival on a loan deal was “imminent” while they also revealed they had secured Glasgow prop Sila Puafisi on a contract for next season.

It is understood the news came as a surprise to Warriors and Grant continued to train with his team-mates at Scotstoun the day after the announcement.

The 31-year-old Scotland international missed large parts of 2016 with arm and back injuries.

When asked about Brive’s announcement, Blair, who played a season at the club in 2012-13, said: “Ryan has said that is not the situation at the moment. He is training with us, he trained with us today, training well, and we will wait and be told by the big dogs upstairs what is going on.

“He came back from injury and has played a few club games and played a few games for us as well.

“We will wait and see what happens but currently he is training with us.”

Brive’s statement 24 hours earlier had read: “As far as Ryan Grant is concerned, we were very pleased with the tests last week at the club and his availability is an opportunity we have seized.”

Warriors are not believed to have had any contact from Brive over Puafisi. The Tonga international joined the club from Gloucester 18 months ago and is out of contract in the summer.

Blair said :“he has performed really well over the couple of years that he has been here so he is bound to have got interest from other clubs.”