Blair: Forget Dupont we’ve got some class of our own
IF people are to be believed, we should just name Antoine Dupont the Six Nations Player of the Championship now, writes ALAN SHAW.
The French scrum-half has been brilliant, working with his halfback partner, Romain Ntamack, to orchestrate Les Bleus’ 100% winning record.
Scotland assistant-coach Mike Blair knows a thing or two about quality scrum-halves himself, having won 85 caps in the No. 9 jersey, touring with the Lions and being the first Scot nominated as World Player of the Year.
“Dupont’s a brilliant player on both sides of the ball, and he’s a real threat for us,” says Blair.
“But we still feel that we’ve got a couple of the best scrum- halves in the world as well – in Ali Price and George Horne – who can control a game, put speed in a game and can challenge defences, and with attack and defence as well.”
Speaking of the Lions, Blair first encountered Shan Edwards – the long-timewales coach credited with transforming the French defence this season – on that 2009 tour.
“He’s made a big impact with the French. I remember the first time I came across him at a defence session, there hadn’t been a huge amount of chat about it before and I was in the defensive team, defending off a lineout.
“I did what I’d usually did with Scotland at Edinburgh, kind of filling in behind the line, and they went one phase, two phases and he blows his whistle and he was like: ‘Mike! What are you doing? Get in the front line and make something happen!’
“That was his attitude with nines, make something happen, get in their face and create turnovers. I think that’s his attitude with a team as well.
“Don’t sit back and wait and let it happen in front of you. So that’s where they’ve got that line speed from, that aggressive side of things.
“It’s a tactic, a system we’re well aware of. We’ve got a few things that we can look at to unlock them.
“We’re on the cusp of putting something together and it would be great to do it against the French.”