Mike Blair: 'I regret my time with the British and Irish Lions'

The new All Blacks attack coach is a man with 85 Test caps for a rival nation and a sense of regret over his time with the British and Irish Lions, both of which will influence his coaching in the New Zealand camp.

Former Scotland captain Mike Blair says he’s “thrilled” to be appointed attack coach in Dave Rennie’s new All Blacks set-up, having taken a unique route to the job.

The 44-year-old has worked with Rennie twice already, once at Glasgow and again in his current role at Kobe, earning the former Wallabies coach’s favour early on with his understanding of the game.

But one experience in his playing career has left a sour taste. As he recalled this week on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Blair’s time with the British and Irish Lions in 2009 remains a motivating factor that he’ll carry into his new job.

“I’ve got, in the back of my mind, that this is a nice job to have, but my work starts once we get in,” Blair explained in an exclusive interview, which is available on RugbyPass TV.

“I had big regrets when I got chosen for the British and Irish Lions, and I was pleased I’d been selected for it, but I didn’t make the most of my opportunity. And I regret my time with the British Lions.

“So this is almost — I see this as an opportunity to fix that, to have another go at this, where I’ve been given this great job, and great title. But my work starts once we get in and once the results start happening. Once I see what we’re able to achieve on attack.”

Blair has joined an exclusive club of individuals who have represented both the Lions and New Zealand in some capacity, bringing knowledge of the northern-hemisphere game that the previous All Blacks regime was criticised for lacking.

Blair made the transition from playing to coaching at Glasgow in 2016, and by 2021, he was named head coach of Edinburgh. In an unconventional move, however, he opted not to continue in the role in 2023, instead wanting to dial in on attack and rekindle his partnership with Rennie in Japan.

“The attack stuff is one I’m passionate about. I love getting players better. I love the detail around how to beat a particular defence, the different ways of doing that,” he said.

“I found the role with Edinburgh, as a head coach, there wasn’t huge support from a director of rugby or CEO or anything like that. So a lot of the recruitment, the man management, everything fell on my plate, and as a result, that took away from my ability to coach the attack.

“I did coach the attack, but I felt I wasn’t able to fully focus on the full bits of detail. And I was churning out ideas, but there wasn’t the right kind of detail behind it.

“It was a pretty big decision to turn down another contract as a head coach because of what comes with that; there are only two jobs in Scotland as a head coach. So I think it was a brave call, but for me, it was the right call.

“I enjoyed elements of the game, but the ability to just focus on attack and one area was something that I was really keen to do.”