MIKE BLAIR HAS just returned to the All Blacks’ towering team hotel at the Viaduct Harbour in downtown Auckland.
The whole squad of hulking Kiwi players has traipsed past after a tough training session as the former Scotland scrum-half takes a seat in the lobby and begins to explain how he has ended up being the All Blacks’ attack coach.
This Saturday’s meeting with Ireland at Eden Park is just the third game for Blair in his new role.
New Zealand don’t tend to appoint foreign coaches, but new boss Dave Rennie bucked the trend to bring 45-year-old Blair on board. It is one of the most interesting coaching appointments in Test rugby for a long time.
They first worked together at Glasgow when Rennie took over the Scottish club in 2017. He later brought Blair over to Kobe Steelers in Japan, where the pair of them have been in cahoots for the last three years.
They are closely aligned, and they’re open about how they want the All Blacks to play the game. The evidence has been clear at the start of the new era, with New Zealand playing with speed, skill and intent.
“When I was with Rens in Glasgow, I coached what we called ‘CRECK,’ so counter-attack, restarts, exits, click – so, like turnover ball – and kick-offs,” explains Blair.
“But then with Kobe, we flipped it and I was doing attack and he was doing a bit of the CRECK stuff, and then he passed it on to one of the Japanese coaches, but he’s doing the CRECK stuff here.
“We know each other very well and we have very similar philosophies on how we believe the game should be played. So we’re pretty clear around that.
“Rens uses the word ‘optimism’ a lot, so being optimistic about taking opportunities, about where there’s space, use it, don’t worry about when we’re in our 22 or wherever, be optimistic as to where the opportunities are, and back yourself to take them.
“But we’re also very conscious that you can’t do that in international rugby the whole time. You’ve got to find a balance.
“We were very keen at the start to really push the ball-in-hand play, but we’re also very aware of what the kicking game can do. And it’s not just about creating pressure or territory, it’s about creating unstructured defences, which is, I believe, when New Zealand are at their best.
“You picture the great New Zealand tries; they’re not necessarily strike plays or multi-phase, it’s players in space using footwork, offloads, that kind of thing. So our job is, how do we create situations like that?
“And there are lots of different ways, like quick throw-ins or tap penalties or turnover ball, getting counter-attack ball kicked back to you, but you’ve got to kick to get counter-attack ball kicked back to you.
“So trying to find that balance is really important.”
Blair says that the All Blacks are fortunate they have players who understand the need for balance, highlighting how Hurricanes halfbacks Cam Roigard and Ruben Love brought “razzle-dazzle” but also strong kicking during Super Rugby.
“You look at France, and everyone says that France have really loosened off,” continues Blair. “France still don’t do anything in their own half unless it’s a counter-attack or, you know, they can get the first carry over 40 metres or whatever it is. It’s still a kicking game that underpins what they’re doing to transfer pressure.
“We’ve not done a huge amount on that at the moment because the focus was on getting in and creating optimism and letting the players understand that we back them with their skillsets to create space.”
Blair in Auckland this week. Brett Phibbs / INPHO
Brett Phibbs / INPHO / INPHO
Rennie’s All Blacks have scored 13 tries and made 23 linebreaks in their first two games against France and Italy, so the attack has started promisingly ahead of Saturday’s clash with Ireland.
Their optimism has been evident in an increased willingness to strike in transition, as well as through things like scoring off a scrum in their own 22 against France, and scoring in the corner after moving a five-metre tap play wide without penalty advantage.
But Blair believes the Kiwi attack has been “a bit of a mixed bag” so far. His ultimate aim with the All Blacks is that none of their opponents will know what’s coming.
“One of the worst things I’d hear as an attack coach would be someone saying that we’re predictable,” says Blair.
“You know, someone analysing us and saying, ‘This is what they do. They do this off 9, this off 10, same way, or they go off 9, off 10 and change direction.’
“I want us to have variety in our game and the kicking game is part of that as well.
“You know, for certain opposition, you’re saying, ‘Right, we’re going to hold onto the ball because we believe that if we hold onto the ball for eight phases, we’re going to break them down.’
“Or we might be like, ‘This defence are really good, so we’re going to have to break the game up, so we’re going to kick more, or we’re going to kick off 9 more in this game and make it contestable.’
“Or, ‘We’re going to kick longer off 10,’ you know, so to find a balance for each opposition that you’re playing against, but ultimately trying not to be predictable where a team can say, ‘Thi is what they’re going to do.’”
This is an exciting time in rugby, with attacks very much on top.
There have been some high-scoring games in Test rugby this year, so Blair is naturally enjoying it all.
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“Some of the laws have changed to suit the attack more,” he says. “It’s harder to steal the ball.
“I remember speaking to Pete Murchie, who’s with Wales now, but was with Kobe as well. He was talking about nothing being in favour of the defence, and he was getting upset about it.
“You hear it from defence coaches and attack coaches that there’s just a general feel around attack at the moment.
“I think it’s good for the game, the amount of people who are talking about the excitement around scoring tries. The France-Australia game last weekend, there was some bonkers stuff. There were two phases that I watched that it must have been three minutes ball-in-play and just loose.
“I don’t think 18 months ago you would have seen that, but it seems there is a bit of optimism around the whole attacking game.”
It also seems clear that the shape of the game right now suits the skillsets that Kiwi players have.
As Blair mentions, the All Blacks’ best players are lethal in unstructured situations.
Ireland have been working on their transition attack, yet their strengths are still around the multi-phase part of the game where everyone fits into a system fluidly.
Dave Rennie and Blair during their time in Kobe. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
It’s a different approach, but one that Blair admires. He highlights out-half Sam Prendergast as a particular threat to the Kiwi defence.
“They’re very good at choosing the option within their shape,” says Blair.
“I think Ireland’s attack is excellent. Not much ball-in-air time [when they pass], so it means that defenders can’t read off as well.
“They’re smart decision makers at the line. The Prendergast situation is interesting because I’d see his decision-making at the line and he’s very similar to Johnny Sexton.
“Very slow feet. I remember speaking to all the Japanese guys about slow feet.
“Everything in Japan is fast, so everything’s right at the line, but I actually showed examples of Johnny Sexton. Just, you don’t have to rush. Let someone bite out of line on your ‘down’ runners and then choose the right one.
“If you’re running at 100 miles an hour, the ability to choose the right option becomes a lot harder, but Prendergast seems to have loads of time in behind.”
Blair’s main concern is about how the All Blacks use the ball when they get it back from Ireland.
He has always been obsessed with the game, right throughout a playing career that involved 169 appearances for Edinburgh, as well as stints with Brive in France, Newcastle in England, then Glasgow, where he moved into coaching under Gregor Townsend.
He became an assistant to Townsend after retiring from playing in 2016, and clearly made a positive impression. When Townsend got the Scotland job in 2017, he asked Blair to join him.
The former scrum-half combined the two assistant roles, getting to know Rennie in Glasgow from 2017 until 2019. Two years after that, he landed his first head coach role with Edinburgh.
It started well for Blair as Edinburgh made the URC play-offs in his first season, yet he didn’t find the head coach role satisfying. It took him away from his real coaching strengths.
He could have continued in the job beyond 2023, but he made the unusual decision to step down as Edinburgh head coach to pursue his ambition of being a world-class attack coach. That’s where his real passion lay.
“I look back on those two years and I’ve got really mixed emotions about it because part of it was just awesome and I have huge gratitude to be given that role with the relative inexperience that I had,” says Blair.
“I loved it, and it helped me grow up a bit. But also you’re so engrossed in all of it. You know, doing discipline hearings, recruitment, everything. I’d go to work at 6 in the morning and get back at 7.30 at night. I’d be coming in the door on my phone to someone, you’d give the kids a bit of a glance, say hello.
Blair stepped down as Edinburgh boss in 2023. Craig Watson / INPHO
Craig Watson / INPHO / INPHO
“I just felt like it’s not who I want to be. And so, that was part of the decision around that and part was around the fact that it wasn’t… I was still coaching, but I wasn’t able to spend time with it. That was the first time that I’d led an attack as well.
“I’d been attack coach with Scotland and CRECK with Glasgow, but I’d never actually led an attack. So that was leading attack plus head coach.
“There was a decent amount of stress with it all, but I mean, the first year, I loved it. It was just a bit of a roller coaster.
“I loved doing the rugby bits, but it got to a stage where I’d go to training, and I’d be on the pitch and be absolutely buzzing about what we’re doing, and then you get the dread with about five minutes left to go, ‘Oh shit, going back to the office, I’ve got to meet the GM. I’ve got to sort this recruitment. I’ve got to do the schedule.’”
His younger brother, Dave, who also played for Edinburgh, asked him if he was going to do something about it or just complain.
So Blair decided not to extend his contract.
“I mean, it’s maybe a bit naive in hindsight. I said in February that I didn’t want to continue, but I didn’t have any job or any income after that.
“I just felt I’d rather risk it than continue to do what I was doing from a family, life and rugby perspective.”
So he was looking for an attack coaching gig in 2023 when Rennie signed up to be the Kobe Steelers’ head coach in Japan.
He and Blair were in a WhatsApp group where Rennie was being slagged for losing his job with Australia. Someone joked that Rennie would be off to Japan.
Blair chimed in that if Rennie needed an attack coach, he would go with him.
Rennie then sent Blair a private message asking if he was serious. He was.
So off went the Blair family to Japan for three happy seasons, which culminated in Kobe winning the League One title this year.
Blair’s wife and daughter had decided to head back to Scotland at the end of this 2026 season, with his son having already moved back to play rugby in school there, which he hadn’t been able to do in Japan.
But when Rennie landed the All Blacks job, he called Blair, who had to weigh things up. But his wife, Viv, was adamant that it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.
Being the All Blacks’ attack coach is a huge honour.
“I’ve been pretty fortunate along the way with the opportunities I’ve got through being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people,” says Blair. “If someone’s got trust in you, it goes a long way, especially in the coaching world.
“There’ll be other coaches out there who’ll be better than me, but they wouldn’t have had the opportunities or the ‘way-ins’ that I’ve had.
“My mindset is that I’ve got the opportunities, so make the most of them.”
His family are currently in New Zealand for a month, getting to know the country while he settles into his role with the All Blacks.
Blair has major firepower to work with in the likes of Will Jordan. Photosport / Kerry Marshall/INPHO
Photosport / Kerry Marshall/INPHO / Kerry Marshall/INPHO
New Zealand will go on tour in South Africa next month for the ‘Greatest Rivalry,’ involving warm-up games and four Tests, with the last one taking place in the US.
“We’re in the hotels 152 out of 165 days,” says Blair, although he points out that international coaching means he will also get extended periods at home in Scotland too.
His son will be on a school rugby tour in Cape Town when the All Blacks are there, which is beautiful timing.
Blair says this new coaching ticket and their plan has been “packaged as a kind of a sprint to the World Cup” in Australia next year.
New Zealand Rugby has confirmed that attack guru Tony Brown will join the All Blacks as an assistant coach from the Springboks in 2028, so it’s not clear what that means for Blair beyond the World Cup.
For now, he is loving his start to life with the All Blacks. He says the level of collaboration between coaches and players has been stimulating, with the group of attack leaders bringing “awesome rugby intellect.”
Ask him what he enjoys most about coaching attack, and Blair thinks back to specific examples of when things he and his players have practised on the training pitch have come to life under the pressure of game day.
He loves helping individuals to push their skillsets on.
“I’m also passionate about trying to find different ways of doing things,” says Blair. “I think that’s probably one of my strengths, trying to find a way of attacking that suits a group.
“I’d have a different attack with Edinburgh than I had with Glasgow than I had with Kobe, and trying to focus on things that allow that group to achieve, and that’s different with every team.
“Some of the stuff that I’ve done with New Zealand, Anton [Lienert-Brown] and Ardie [Savea] wouldn’t have seen me doing that with Kobe. So trying to find different ways, that’s what I’m passionate about.
“But it’s also difficult sometimes to get that into your game. I mean, we had 10 days before our first Test as group, so it’s difficult, but I think as you spend more time, there’ll be more understanding.
“We just need to accelerate that cohesion within the group, and the tour we’ve got to South Africa will be a real challenge for us, but I think it’ll put us in a much better position come the World Cup because of the time we spend together.
“That’s quite a long-winded answer. I don’t know what you got out of that.”
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The ex-Scotland scrum-half who is now the All Blacks' attack coach
MIKE BLAIR HAS just returned to the All Blacks’ towering team hotel at the Viaduct Harbour in downtown Auckland.
The whole squad of hulking Kiwi players has traipsed past after a tough training session as the former Scotland scrum-half takes a seat in the lobby and begins to explain how he has ended up being the All Blacks’ attack coach.
This Saturday’s meeting with Ireland at Eden Park is just the third game for Blair in his new role.
New Zealand don’t tend to appoint foreign coaches, but new boss Dave Rennie bucked the trend to bring 45-year-old Blair on board. It is one of the most interesting coaching appointments in Test rugby for a long time.
They first worked together at Glasgow when Rennie took over the Scottish club in 2017. He later brought Blair over to Kobe Steelers in Japan, where the pair of them have been in cahoots for the last three years.
They are closely aligned, and they’re open about how they want the All Blacks to play the game. The evidence has been clear at the start of the new era, with New Zealand playing with speed, skill and intent.
“When I was with Rens in Glasgow, I coached what we called ‘CRECK,’ so counter-attack, restarts, exits, click – so, like turnover ball – and kick-offs,” explains Blair.
“But then with Kobe, we flipped it and I was doing attack and he was doing a bit of the CRECK stuff, and then he passed it on to one of the Japanese coaches, but he’s doing the CRECK stuff here.
“We know each other very well and we have very similar philosophies on how we believe the game should be played. So we’re pretty clear around that.
“Rens uses the word ‘optimism’ a lot, so being optimistic about taking opportunities, about where there’s space, use it, don’t worry about when we’re in our 22 or wherever, be optimistic as to where the opportunities are, and back yourself to take them.
“But we’re also very conscious that you can’t do that in international rugby the whole time. You’ve got to find a balance.
“We were very keen at the start to really push the ball-in-hand play, but we’re also very aware of what the kicking game can do. And it’s not just about creating pressure or territory, it’s about creating unstructured defences, which is, I believe, when New Zealand are at their best.
“You picture the great New Zealand tries; they’re not necessarily strike plays or multi-phase, it’s players in space using footwork, offloads, that kind of thing. So our job is, how do we create situations like that?
“And there are lots of different ways, like quick throw-ins or tap penalties or turnover ball, getting counter-attack ball kicked back to you, but you’ve got to kick to get counter-attack ball kicked back to you.
“So trying to find that balance is really important.”
Blair says that the All Blacks are fortunate they have players who understand the need for balance, highlighting how Hurricanes halfbacks Cam Roigard and Ruben Love brought “razzle-dazzle” but also strong kicking during Super Rugby.
“You look at France, and everyone says that France have really loosened off,” continues Blair. “France still don’t do anything in their own half unless it’s a counter-attack or, you know, they can get the first carry over 40 metres or whatever it is. It’s still a kicking game that underpins what they’re doing to transfer pressure.
“We’ve not done a huge amount on that at the moment because the focus was on getting in and creating optimism and letting the players understand that we back them with their skillsets to create space.”
Rennie’s All Blacks have scored 13 tries and made 23 linebreaks in their first two games against France and Italy, so the attack has started promisingly ahead of Saturday’s clash with Ireland.
Their optimism has been evident in an increased willingness to strike in transition, as well as through things like scoring off a scrum in their own 22 against France, and scoring in the corner after moving a five-metre tap play wide without penalty advantage.
But Blair believes the Kiwi attack has been “a bit of a mixed bag” so far. His ultimate aim with the All Blacks is that none of their opponents will know what’s coming.
“One of the worst things I’d hear as an attack coach would be someone saying that we’re predictable,” says Blair.
“You know, someone analysing us and saying, ‘This is what they do. They do this off 9, this off 10, same way, or they go off 9, off 10 and change direction.’
“I want us to have variety in our game and the kicking game is part of that as well.
“You know, for certain opposition, you’re saying, ‘Right, we’re going to hold onto the ball because we believe that if we hold onto the ball for eight phases, we’re going to break them down.’
“Or we might be like, ‘This defence are really good, so we’re going to have to break the game up, so we’re going to kick more, or we’re going to kick off 9 more in this game and make it contestable.’
“Or, ‘We’re going to kick longer off 10,’ you know, so to find a balance for each opposition that you’re playing against, but ultimately trying not to be predictable where a team can say, ‘Thi is what they’re going to do.’”
This is an exciting time in rugby, with attacks very much on top.
There have been some high-scoring games in Test rugby this year, so Blair is naturally enjoying it all.
“Some of the laws have changed to suit the attack more,” he says. “It’s harder to steal the ball.
“I remember speaking to Pete Murchie, who’s with Wales now, but was with Kobe as well. He was talking about nothing being in favour of the defence, and he was getting upset about it.
“You hear it from defence coaches and attack coaches that there’s just a general feel around attack at the moment.
“I think it’s good for the game, the amount of people who are talking about the excitement around scoring tries. The France-Australia game last weekend, there was some bonkers stuff. There were two phases that I watched that it must have been three minutes ball-in-play and just loose.
“I don’t think 18 months ago you would have seen that, but it seems there is a bit of optimism around the whole attacking game.”
It also seems clear that the shape of the game right now suits the skillsets that Kiwi players have.
As Blair mentions, the All Blacks’ best players are lethal in unstructured situations.
Ireland have been working on their transition attack, yet their strengths are still around the multi-phase part of the game where everyone fits into a system fluidly.
It’s a different approach, but one that Blair admires. He highlights out-half Sam Prendergast as a particular threat to the Kiwi defence.
“They’re very good at choosing the option within their shape,” says Blair.
“I think Ireland’s attack is excellent. Not much ball-in-air time [when they pass], so it means that defenders can’t read off as well.
“They’re smart decision makers at the line. The Prendergast situation is interesting because I’d see his decision-making at the line and he’s very similar to Johnny Sexton.
“Very slow feet. I remember speaking to all the Japanese guys about slow feet.
“Everything in Japan is fast, so everything’s right at the line, but I actually showed examples of Johnny Sexton. Just, you don’t have to rush. Let someone bite out of line on your ‘down’ runners and then choose the right one.
“If you’re running at 100 miles an hour, the ability to choose the right option becomes a lot harder, but Prendergast seems to have loads of time in behind.”
Blair’s main concern is about how the All Blacks use the ball when they get it back from Ireland.
He has always been obsessed with the game, right throughout a playing career that involved 169 appearances for Edinburgh, as well as stints with Brive in France, Newcastle in England, then Glasgow, where he moved into coaching under Gregor Townsend.
He became an assistant to Townsend after retiring from playing in 2016, and clearly made a positive impression. When Townsend got the Scotland job in 2017, he asked Blair to join him.
The former scrum-half combined the two assistant roles, getting to know Rennie in Glasgow from 2017 until 2019. Two years after that, he landed his first head coach role with Edinburgh.
It started well for Blair as Edinburgh made the URC play-offs in his first season, yet he didn’t find the head coach role satisfying. It took him away from his real coaching strengths.
He could have continued in the job beyond 2023, but he made the unusual decision to step down as Edinburgh head coach to pursue his ambition of being a world-class attack coach. That’s where his real passion lay.
“I look back on those two years and I’ve got really mixed emotions about it because part of it was just awesome and I have huge gratitude to be given that role with the relative inexperience that I had,” says Blair.
“I loved it, and it helped me grow up a bit. But also you’re so engrossed in all of it. You know, doing discipline hearings, recruitment, everything. I’d go to work at 6 in the morning and get back at 7.30 at night. I’d be coming in the door on my phone to someone, you’d give the kids a bit of a glance, say hello.
“I just felt like it’s not who I want to be. And so, that was part of the decision around that and part was around the fact that it wasn’t… I was still coaching, but I wasn’t able to spend time with it. That was the first time that I’d led an attack as well.
“I’d been attack coach with Scotland and CRECK with Glasgow, but I’d never actually led an attack. So that was leading attack plus head coach.
“There was a decent amount of stress with it all, but I mean, the first year, I loved it. It was just a bit of a roller coaster.
“I loved doing the rugby bits, but it got to a stage where I’d go to training, and I’d be on the pitch and be absolutely buzzing about what we’re doing, and then you get the dread with about five minutes left to go, ‘Oh shit, going back to the office, I’ve got to meet the GM. I’ve got to sort this recruitment. I’ve got to do the schedule.’”
His younger brother, Dave, who also played for Edinburgh, asked him if he was going to do something about it or just complain.
So Blair decided not to extend his contract.
“I mean, it’s maybe a bit naive in hindsight. I said in February that I didn’t want to continue, but I didn’t have any job or any income after that.
“I just felt I’d rather risk it than continue to do what I was doing from a family, life and rugby perspective.”
So he was looking for an attack coaching gig in 2023 when Rennie signed up to be the Kobe Steelers’ head coach in Japan.
He and Blair were in a WhatsApp group where Rennie was being slagged for losing his job with Australia. Someone joked that Rennie would be off to Japan.
Blair chimed in that if Rennie needed an attack coach, he would go with him.
Rennie then sent Blair a private message asking if he was serious. He was.
So off went the Blair family to Japan for three happy seasons, which culminated in Kobe winning the League One title this year.
Blair’s wife and daughter had decided to head back to Scotland at the end of this 2026 season, with his son having already moved back to play rugby in school there, which he hadn’t been able to do in Japan.
But when Rennie landed the All Blacks job, he called Blair, who had to weigh things up. But his wife, Viv, was adamant that it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.
Being the All Blacks’ attack coach is a huge honour.
“I’ve been pretty fortunate along the way with the opportunities I’ve got through being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people,” says Blair. “If someone’s got trust in you, it goes a long way, especially in the coaching world.
“There’ll be other coaches out there who’ll be better than me, but they wouldn’t have had the opportunities or the ‘way-ins’ that I’ve had.
“My mindset is that I’ve got the opportunities, so make the most of them.”
His family are currently in New Zealand for a month, getting to know the country while he settles into his role with the All Blacks.
New Zealand will go on tour in South Africa next month for the ‘Greatest Rivalry,’ involving warm-up games and four Tests, with the last one taking place in the US.
“We’re in the hotels 152 out of 165 days,” says Blair, although he points out that international coaching means he will also get extended periods at home in Scotland too.
His son will be on a school rugby tour in Cape Town when the All Blacks are there, which is beautiful timing.
Blair says this new coaching ticket and their plan has been “packaged as a kind of a sprint to the World Cup” in Australia next year.
New Zealand Rugby has confirmed that attack guru Tony Brown will join the All Blacks as an assistant coach from the Springboks in 2028, so it’s not clear what that means for Blair beyond the World Cup.
For now, he is loving his start to life with the All Blacks. He says the level of collaboration between coaches and players has been stimulating, with the group of attack leaders bringing “awesome rugby intellect.”
Ask him what he enjoys most about coaching attack, and Blair thinks back to specific examples of when things he and his players have practised on the training pitch have come to life under the pressure of game day.
He loves helping individuals to push their skillsets on.
“I’m also passionate about trying to find different ways of doing things,” says Blair. “I think that’s probably one of my strengths, trying to find a way of attacking that suits a group.
“I’d have a different attack with Edinburgh than I had with Glasgow than I had with Kobe, and trying to focus on things that allow that group to achieve, and that’s different with every team.
“Some of the stuff that I’ve done with New Zealand, Anton [Lienert-Brown] and Ardie [Savea] wouldn’t have seen me doing that with Kobe. So trying to find different ways, that’s what I’m passionate about.
“But it’s also difficult sometimes to get that into your game. I mean, we had 10 days before our first Test as group, so it’s difficult, but I think as you spend more time, there’ll be more understanding.
“We just need to accelerate that cohesion within the group, and the tour we’ve got to South Africa will be a real challenge for us, but I think it’ll put us in a much better position come the World Cup because of the time we spend together.
“That’s quite a long-winded answer. I don’t know what you got out of that.”
Lots.
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