Blair navigates 'cagey' friendship with Townsend ahead of All Blacks clash at Murrayfield

All Blacks assistant coach Mike Blair has described a noticeably more guarded tone to his conversations with Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend this week, as the two former colleagues prepare to face each other at Murrayfield in the fourth round of the Nations Championship.

Blair, who spent four years as a Scotland assistant between 2017 and 2021, joined Dave Rennie’s All Blacks coaching staff at the start of 2026 in an attacking coach role that runs through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. The 45-year-old 84-Test halfback said the Edinburgh setting gave the week a slightly strange feel, not least because the pair’s regular coffee catch-ups have taken on a different character.

“We’ve been in touch this week,” Blair told reporters on a wet Tuesday in Edinburgh. “We have good conversation about rugby, about everything, what’s going on, what direction the game’s moving. But we’re just a little bit more cagey around certain things — like how we believe the game’s developing now and what we can do — because obviously we’re up against each other now.”

Blair also noted that the two sides are scheduled to meet again before the 2027 World Cup, adding another layer to the ongoing dynamic between the two coaches.

Despite the personal familiarity, Blair was clear-eyed about the scale of the task facing the All Blacks. He pointed to the tightness of recent meetings between the sides and the deep-rooted cohesion Scotland have developed under Townsend’s long tenure.

“Playing Scotland at Murrayfield is a really big challenge,” he said. “The last four games have all been within eight points, so these games are really competitive. This team under Gregor has been kind of seven or eight years in the making — very cohesive, they know their game well.”

Blair, who scored a try at the All Blacks’ Merchiston Castle School base during his playing career, acknowledged with some humour his own contribution to New Zealand’s 120-year unbeaten record against Scotland. He recalled a 2005 match in which a then-18-year-old Isaia Toeava made his All Blacks debut against his Scotland side, reflecting on how different the contest feels today compared to that era.

“When I played for Scotland, they played their second-string team,” Blair said. “It’s different now. Like, it’s different now.”