Blair finds inspiration from Weir in quiet moments of solitude
Edinburgh coach reflects on late Scotland great’s remarkable legacy
THE world keeps turning, so Edinburgh were back in training at the DAM Health Stadium yesterday morning, debriefing the weekend’s deeply disappointing loss to 14- man Benetton and beginning the process of putting things right ahead of Munster visiting the Scottish capital this coming Friday.
However, Mike Blair – the club’s head coach – did take some time out from the daily grind to reflect on the enormous impact the late, great Doddie Weir has had on Scottish rugby and everyone involved in the sport.
Blair played 85 Test matches for Scotland between 2002 and 2012, meaning his international career began two years after Weir’s had ended, and the pair only ever played against each other once in an Edinburgh versus Border Reivers match back in 2004.
“He was winding down a little bit at that stage,” the former scrum- half conceded.
However, their paths crossed many times in more social settings, at dinners and hospitality engagements, and Blair credits Weir as one of the few people to have made him stop and reflect on what the sport really means to him.
“I don’t miss playing for Scotland or miss playing rugby a huge amount, but there have been a couple of times over the last few years when I have had a quiet moment and taken it all in,” he revealed.
“One of those moments was when I was an assistant coach with Scotland and Doddie delivered the match ball before the New Zealand game in 2017, and another was when he appeared on the pitch before the All Blacks game a couple of weeks ago.
“It is no coincidence that both those incidents involved Doddie and they made me reflect on how fortunate I am to have had the experiences I have had – and I did feel very emotional.”
Blair added that he hopes Weir’s family can draw comfort from the extraordinary public response there has been to the loss of a bona fide national hero.
“Reading all the comments about him must be really special,” he continued. “It has made me think about Tom Smith as well – who played for Scotland and the Lions alongside Doddie and died earlier
this year. The regard they were held with both on and off the pitch really is phenomenal.
“It is a sad moment for Scottish rugby but to look back at it and what they achieved is uplifting.”
Turning his attention back towards the day job, Blair indicated that the team’s work- rate – or lack of it – was his biggest frustration from Saturday’s defeat, and it seems likely that most, if not all, of the 10 international players who were rested for that Benetton game will return to the matchday squad to face Munster.
“We showed the players a clip of 55 minutes when Benetton had just got a yellow- card, meaning they were down to 13 men, and we didn’t work hard enough,” he explained. “Then we showed a clip at 76 minutes where we looked like we had huge amounts of energy, were working really hard off the ball, and had real desperation. So, we need that desperation in our game the whole time. We’ve got it in us, but we need to have it more consistently.
“The same guys had done brilliantly winning our two previous away games. We beat Cardiff, who won in Durban on Sunday so they’re not a bad team at all. There’s definitely pleasing bits about how the team [ without the internationalists] has gone the last month, but it is that consistency that you maybe struggle to get with a less experienced group.”
“For this week, there is a bit of trying to work out the best way to utilise the guys coming back,” he added. “Do they come back on the bench? Or do they start and get in the groove straight away?
“I expect them to be up to speed quickly because they’ve all been doing bits and bobs in their time off. It’s not as if they’ve been sitting idle the whole time. I expect them to come in and hit the ground running.”
Saturday’s defeat left Edinburgh sitting fifth in the United Rugby Championship table while Munster are six league points behind in ninth place ( just outside the play- off seedings) having won three matches and lost five, including all four games played away from home so far in the campaign.
The Irish side have, however, started to build momentum, beating a strong Springbok A side 28- 14 three weekends ago and then Connacht 24- 17 on Saturday, and head coach Graham Rowntree has stressed that continuing that run is the priority this weekend ahead of keeping frontline players fresh for the start of their European Champions Cup campaign against Toulouse on 11th December.
“Seriously, we won’t speak about Europe until after this next game,” he said. “We will see who comes through Friday night. Let’s build on this momentum and then Europe will take care of itself.”
There have been a couple of times when I have had a quiet moment and taken it all in. Both incidents involved Doddie