Mike Blair says Murrayfield Test will feel ‘weird and cool’ as he settles into All Blacks attack coach role

Mike Blair said he was relishing his role as Dave Rennie's attack coach with the New Zealand All Blacks on the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast on 18 September 2026, and added that facing Scotland at Murrayfield in November would be "weird and cool." "I don't know how it'll feel," he said. "I'll tell you once we're there, but it'll definitely be weird and cool. I'm looking forward to it."

Foreign coaches are uncommon in New Zealand rugby, a rarity Blair compared to native wildlife, which he said makes his appointment distinctive. Blair is seven Tests into his time with the All Blacks and has recorded wins over France, Ireland, Italy and South Africa, alongside three defeats, all against the world champions. A former Scotland captain with 85 caps, he said he will return to Murrayfield in November wearing the All Blacks' black rather than Scotland's blue.

Blair is working with several established All Black backs, including Jordie Barrett, Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan and Damian McKenzie, and he described the squad as highly capable. He emphasised the growing respect within New Zealand for Scotland's attacking play, saying: "You know, it might have been a different thing if it had been 15 years ago, when I was playing. I've spoken to the guys about Scotland and New Zealand games in recent years and each player I've spoken to said, 'Geez, that was a hell of a game'." He added: "The respect for Scotland's attacking game is huge... Now you speak to Jordie and he's naming everyone in the Scotland backline."

Blair outlined the rapid transition into his current role, saying he went "straight from finishing in Japan [he coached alongside Rennie in Kobe for three years] on 14 June to starting the job with New Zealand on 17 June." He and Rennie previously worked together at Glasgow Warriors and renewed their partnership in Japan; Blair had also coached Edinburgh before leaving that post early. He described Rennie as a mentor and supporter: "He's good company. He's got lots of stories. The way he manages is not suffocating. He offers opinion when he feels that it's necessary, but otherwise he trusts you to do a job because he's chosen you for a reason."

Blair recounted how Rennie involved him in the New Zealand appointment process, saying: "He'd spoken to me in Japan and said he was asked to apply for the New Zealand job. So he'd asked me at that stage, would it be something that I was interested in - and I said, yes." He described learning Rennie had been appointed while back in Edinburgh: "I was actually back in Edinburgh and it was the middle of the night when they decided who was going to be the head coach. I woke up at seven in the morning, checked my phone and saw that Rens had got the job. And then I didn't hear from him. I'd messaged and said, 'Awesome, well done' and then kind of waited for him to say, 'We'll have to sort your contract out', but there was a day's pause because it was difficult with the time difference. There's a pause and I was like, 'We are going to sort this out…' I was hanging in the balance a little bit."

On the demands of the role, Blair admitted he felt pressure to match the squad's quality and questioned whether he could add value, saying: "He makes you feel really confident about what you do. Like, I questioned if this would be something I'd be able to add value to. I had those thoughts and Dave knew I had those thoughts. He reassured me." He also noted the different dynamic when presenting plans at All Blacks level compared with previous jobs: "I was apprehensive about the quality of people and that I couldn't afford to make a mistake. In Japan, or even with Edinburgh, I'd say, 'Look, this is the plan. What do you guys think?' And it's like, 'Yeah, cool'. Here it was, 'Why are we doing this? Would it not be better to do that?' It was fantastic, but at the same time, it was like, 'I've got to be on it here, because if I'm not, someone's going to find me out'."

Blair reviewed the team's results since he joined: initial wins against France, Ireland and Italy in the summer were followed by a four-Test series against South Africa — three matches in South Africa and one in Baltimore — in which New Zealand won the opener in Johannesburg by five tries to one but lost the next three, two by narrow margins. He said the series involved a heavy burden but also showed attacking progress: "The mental and physical burden was pretty high, but I still believe we created a way of playing that the guys are really passionate about," adding, "We've had seven Test matches and we're finding our way. It's pretty tough doing that against the best team in the world, so, it's been cool. We believe that if we played to the best of our ability, then we would have won more than one Test match. There's work for us to do, but they [the Springboks] are certainly not unbeatable."

Blair said New Zealand have two Tests against Australia to play before he returns to Scotland for the Murrayfield match in November, and that a "welcome, of sorts, awaits him."