'Mixed bag': Mike Blair delivers honest All Blacks attack assessment

All Blacks assistant coach Mike Blair has described his side’s attacking progress as a “mixed bag” to date, despite winning all six contests under Dave Rennie in 2026.

Blair assumed the attack role at the start of the 2026 international season, joining the coaching staff of Rennie, Neil Barnes, Tana Umaga, and Jason Ryan.

The experienced Scotland halfback, speaking to media in Pretoria, was asked how he feels the attack is progressing after the three encounters against South African URC sides.

Looking back, Blair was pleased with the overall performance against the Bulls, but also believed they could have been more clinical.

“Yeah, we’re obviously pleased to get the win and pleased to score 50 points. I think it was filled with lots of good moments,” Blair told media in Pretoria.

“We probably lacked the consistency across the 80 minutes, but we’re pleased to get the win. I think probably one of the key things was that offloads weren’t quite sticking against the Sharks in Durban in poor conditions.

“I think we stuck 18 from 20, which is a great number for us last night. We created opportunities, but I think just a little bit of sloppiness around some of my skill set, and our offers let them off the hook. But some nice build-up play.”

“A lot of it’s around sighting the target. So making sure that we see that pass before we give it. I thought a couple of times we tried to force it so it becomes a decision as well.

“So, these are things that we’re doing week in, week out. Just got to keep on top of them.”

Blair understands that the intensity of the tour is about to ramp up, and the opportunities the All Blacks received taking on the Bulls will be slimmed down against the Springboks.

“I think we’ve got some really talented players, and we’ve created a huge amount. We’ve scored some great tries.

“But we’re aware that against South Africa we’re gonna get less opportunities. So when we do get them, we’ve got to be right on with our skill set and our decision-making.

“That’s something that we’re reviewing, talking about, and we’re training a lot as well.”

But despite not being fully satisfied with his side’s performances ahead of the first Test in less than a week, Blair admits they are building nicely.

“So I think we’re building. It’s difficult sometimes to get cohesion with the group, especially the group that played the Stormers game and the Bulls game last night; we didn’t have a huge amount of training time going into this game either.

“So, understandable reasons for why we’re not really slick, but there’s been some excellent stuff there as well.”