Swing to Blair in the long rivalry with his shadow

Four days on from that champagne Murrayfield moment, the final whistle last Sunday that had the corks popping all over Scotland, Mike Blair still had a sore head. Or so it seemed. "Nah, it's OK," he insisted, making light of the gash on his left temple.

Blair had much to celebrate in the aftermath of Scotland's stunning championship opener against France: the brilliant performance, the winning result, and his own inspirational part in it all. As it happened he was back at home by 8.30pm, getting ready for bed. The Edinburgh scrum-half had good reason to stop the wave of euphoria getting anywhere near his wounded head.

Blair might have been the star of last Sunday's show, with his persistent rapier thrusts behind French lines and his slick all-round assurance in his pivotal position, but the Scotland coach, Frank Hadden, confided on Wednesday that serious consideration had been given to picking Chris Cusiter to face Dwayne Peel in the Millennium Stadium this afternoon. Blair has been a member of the Scotland squad for three-and-a-half years now, since his try-scoring debut on tour against Canada in the summer of 2002. Thanks to the presence of his rival and squad-mate, though, he happens to be a veteran of just two starts in the Six Nations' Championship.

"I don't think there's extra pressure on me because Chris is sitting on the sidelines," Blair maintained. "There's definitely a pressure to perform, but I don't think it's more so than in any other position. I feel it's a 50-50 call for scrum-half, and that's fair enough. If Frank were to choose Chris and give me an explanation for it, then I'd be happy enough; good luck to him. But I feel it's a genuine competition for the place and an even call."

Which, Blair suggests, hasn't always been the case. After 18 months being groomed as Bryan Redpath's successor, he was told he would be playing second fiddle to Cusiter when Matt Williams arrived at Murrayfield as head coach. "He told me about six weeks before the Welsh game in 2004, when Chris won his first cap, that I wouldn't be given the opportunity," Blair recalled. "That kind of thing hadn't happened in the past. There were still five top-drawer club games to play, Heineken Cup games, and it was pretty hard to take at that stage.

"I didn't feel I was getting a fair crack, but I don't want to dwell on it too much, because Chris did very well when he got the opportunity and maybe in hindsight you could say, 'Yeah, it was a great decision by Matt to have played him'."

By the same token, after two highly impressive championship seasons by Cusiter, and one Lions tour, you could say it was a great decision by Hadden to start with Blair at No 9 for Scotland's autumn series and again for this year's Six Nations.

Having coached Blair for three seasons at Edinburgh before succeeding Williams, Hadden is well aware of his assets - as more of a mercurial Rob Howley type than a typical, dogged Scottish scrum-half in the Armstrong, Laidlaw, and indeed Cusiter, mould. "I would regard myself and Chris as pretty different players," Blair said. "I prefer an open game."

At 24, the Edinburgh man is Cusiter's senior by a year and has experience of a more open role from his days playing at both outside-half and full-back for Edinburgh Academy. There have even been calls to have Blair installed at No 10 for Scotland - from Gregor Townsend and Kenny Logan, among others. For the time being, though, there is just the one, at Under-21 level. Blair's brother, Dave, of Sale Sharks, captained the age-group team as stand-off against the Welsh Under-21s at Newport on Friday.

The elder Blair drew his early inspiration from watching Gavin Hastings and the rest of the Grand Slam generation of 1990 from the Murrayfield stands. His hope is that the Caledonian class of 2006 can do something similar, though he bristles at talk of potential championship success. "We, as Scots, have a tendency really to talk ourselves up if we're doing well and talk ourselves down if we're not," Bair pondered. "We've got to realise where we are. We've had a fantastic victory but we have got a tough game ahead of us in the Millennium Stadium.

"I do think things are on the up, though. And I don't think you can overestimate how important confidence is to a team: when you feel comfortable in what you're doing on the pitch and feel like you belong there, as opposed to being the sort of sideshow for the main team winning. The more we feel on a par with these teams, the more we feel in a position to beat them if we play well."

MILLENNIUM STADIUM LINE-UPS

WALES

15 G Thomas (Toulouse, capt)

14 M Jones (Llanelli Scarlets)

13 H Luscombe (N'port-Gwent Dragons)

12 M Watkins (Scarlets)

11 S Williams (Ospreys)

10 S Jones (Clermont Auvergne)

9 D Peel (Scarlets)

1 D Jones (Ospreys)

2 R Thomas (Cardiff Blues)

3 A R Jones (Ospreys)

4 I Gough (Dragons)

5 R Sidoli (Blues)

6 C Charvis (Newcastle)

8 M Owen (Dragons)

7 M Williams (Blues)

Replacements: 16 M Davies (Gloucester), 17 G Jenkins (Blues), 18 G Delve (Bath), 19 A M Jones (Scarlets), 20 M Phillips (Blues), 21 N Robinson (Blues), 22 L Byrne (Scarlets).

SCOTLAND

15 H Southwell (Edinburgh)

14 C Paterson (Edinburgh)

13 M Di Rollo (Edinburgh)

12 A Henderson (Glasgow)

11 S Lamont (Northampton)

10 D Parks (Glasgow)

9 M Blair (Edinburgh)

1 G Kerr (Leeds)

2 S Lawson (Glasgow)

3 B Douglas (Borders)

4 A Kellock (Edinburgh)

5 S Murray (Edinburgh)

6 J White (Sale, capt)

8 S Taylor (Edinburgh)

7 A Hogg (Edinburgh)

Replacements: 16 R Ford (Borders), 17 C Smith (Edinburgh), 18 S MacLeod (Borders), 19 J Petrie (Glasgow), 20 C Cusiter (Borders), 21 G Ross (Leeds), 22 S Webster (Edinburgh)

Referee: S Walsh (New Zealand)

Kick-off: 3pm. Live: BBC1

FAST AND FURIOUS: ANATOMY OF A CALEDONIAN CONTENDER

Brain

The hallmark of Blair's game is his intuition. He is a "heads up" player, with a nose for a gap, an instinct for creativity and a natural ability to read the game.

Shoulder

Though he is not from the traditional rugged Scottish scrum-half mould, Blair tackled like a demon against France and Sean Lamont paid him credit for helping to drive a long-range maul that yielded the second try.

Heart

Perhaps his backside should be circled, because he has been obliged to sit on the bench so much, but Blair has shown great heart in waiting for starting chances while Chris Cusiter has been in such great form.

Hands

Bryan Redpath was an ambidextrous joiner who could knock in nails with either hand, and Blair is blessed with similarly nimble handling skills. His quick, smooth service from either side kept France on the back foot.

Legs

Blair's ace card is his pace, both off the mark and over distance. He combined with Chris Paterson to score a memorable try from 50 metres out in a World Cup warm-up game against Italy at Murrayfield in 2003.