Blair fresh for Argentina

Scotland captain Mike Blair believes he is now feeling “fresh and energetic” due to an enforced injury absence last season.

Scotland captain Mike Blair believes he is now feeling “fresh and energetic” due to an enforced injury absence last season.

It has been a long, hard season in international rugby and the wear and tear of thirteen months continuous play has taken its toll on the squad for Scotland's two-match tour of Argentina.

They set off for Buenos Aires on Saturday evening without a host of leading players such as Jason White, Jim Hamilton, and Rory and Sean Lamont – who will all spend the summer on the treatment table rather than the hard fast pitches of Buenos Aires and Rosario.

But team captain Mike Blair says he is feeling as fit as a fiddle and insists he is ready to carry on the fine form which saw him nominated as Scotland's player of the season this year.

“It has been a long season, but I didn't play for eight months last season because of a shoulder injury so I'm still feeling fresh and energetic,” he said.

“Playing rugby certainly beats being injured when you spend all your time either sitting around doing not a lot, or stuck in the gym for hours on end doing rehab.

“We had ten days off after the World Cup and then we had a week off after the Cardiff game at the end of March so the season has been structured pretty well as far as I'm concerned.

“I've also been given the odd break by Edinburgh throughout the season, and especially towards the end of the campaign, with Greg Laidlaw and Ben Meyer taking my place in the side and both doing a great job.”

Blair took over the captaincy of the national team when Jason White picked up a head knock against Wales during the Six Nations, and his consistently excellent performances have made him one of the few Scottish success stories during a rather miserable season for the Scotland team.

In many ways it has been a coming of age year for the 27-year-old, who has thrust himself into pole-position to be Lions scrum-half next summer. But he claims he is not doing anything differently now than he has done in previous seasons.

“As soon as someone points out something about your form – whether it is good or bad – that tends to catch on, and before you know it everyone is saying you are in the best form of your life or the worst form of your life even though you don't feel as if you are playing any differently to how you usually play,” he protests.

“I suppose when you are enjoying playing you naturally perform better and at club level it has been a really exciting year. There have been so many new faces coming to the fore and with a new coach it has almost been like a new club.

“We have seen so many young guys coming into the side and brining a new enthusiasm that I think it has worn off on the rest of us, and hopefully we can see that translate into the national side now that players like Ben Cairns and Nick De Luca are beginning to break through.

“I don't know if I have really played that much better this season than I have in previous years. I suppose I didn't play too much last year because of injury, but I really enjoyed the 2006 season, which was Frank's [Hadden] first in charge of the Scotland team.”

Scotland have only won once in seven cap international matches against Argentina, and this summer presents a golden opportunity to improve that rather depressing statistic.

The Pumas will be without a raft of leading players, who have not been released by their French clubs, but Blair says there is no danger of his side underestimating the size of the task they face in South America.

“Whatever players the Argentinians have available to them it is going to be a massive challenge, and we are pretty sure that they will play to their stereotypical strengths,” he said.

“They will be fit, fast and strong, they will be competitive at the breakdown, and they will be totally uncompromising in every contact situation.

“There is no doubt we will have to be at the top of our game to beat them, but I'm sure we'll have a few tricks up our sleeve which will hopefully take them a bit by surprise.”