News

Blair gets armband as Hadden gets players

Tuesday 14th October 2008

Captain: Blair will once again lead Scotland

Mike Blair has been confirmed as Scotland captain for next month's internationals, while the row over player release has also been settled.

The Edinburgh scrum-half held on to the armband after skippering his country to Calcutta Cup victory over England earlier this year as well as their first Test win in Argentina in the summer.

Blair, 27, will lead Scotland out at Murrayfield against New Zealand on November 8 and South Africa a week later, as well as against Canada in Aberdeen the following Saturday.

The announcement was made by Head Coach Frank Hadden, who also confirmed the International Rugby Board had clarified what access he will get to his squad prior to next month's games.

The Scottish Rugby Union had been at loggerheads with Premier Rugby - the umbrella organisation for Guinness Premiership clubs - over the release of players for Test matches.

The SRU sought intervention from the IRB, whose Regulation Committee have ruled Hadden can convene his squad on October 27, 12 days before the All Blacks clash.

It is a partial victory for the SRU, who had been lobbying for access two weeks prior to Tests, while Premier Rugby wanted a five-day release period.

"The games we have coming up next month are massively important for Scottish Rugby. We face New Zealand, South Africa and Canada over three weeks and how we go in these contests will play a major part in determining our ranking for the 2011 World Cup draw in December," Hadden said.

"We also now have clarity on the access to our players who play with English clubs."

Despite insisting he accepted the IRB ruling, Hadden called for a new set of regulations in which international rugby takes precedence.

The game's world governing body are set to meet at the end of next month in a bid to ratify new regulations governing all aspects of player release.

"We will continue to articulate the case for a robust and workable regulation which underlines the pre-eminence of the international game, which is fundamental for the game's worldwide development," Hadden said.

The ruling also contains one crucial caveat, with English clubs able to recall their Scotland stars to play in matches on the weekend of November 1-2.

Hadden would be forced to release those players on October 30, while they must be returned to his squad no later than 24 hours after their club match has finished.

Hadden also explained his decision to retain Blair as his captain.

"Experience and continuity are key factors in the international game and we believe Mike deserves the opportunity to build on his most recent contributions, both as a player and captain, to the Scotland team," he said.

Blair, who has skippered Scotland on five occasions, was delighted to keep the captain's armband.

"It's a tremendous privilege to captain your country and I know from the first time I had that honour at Murrayfield earlier this year that the crowd can inspire us," he said.

"Against England, when we had to dig that little bit deeper, the supporters were fantastic and it would be great if we could enjoy that level of vocal encouragement against the All Blacks, Springboks and Canada next month."