Education
Edinburgh Academy; University of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Academy; University of Edinburgh.
He plays professional rugby union as scrum-half for Glasgow Warriors and represented Scotland 85 times, as well as the British and Irish Lions, before retiring in January 2013 aged 31. He formerly played for Edinburgh Rugby from 2001 to 2012 and Brive in 2012-2013. Blair spent the 2012-2013 season playing in France with Brive helping them to gain promotion back to the Top 14.
Blair then returned to the United Kingdom to play for the Newcastle Falcons in the English Premiership.
In the 2014-2015 season, along with Allister Hogg, Blair became assistant coach of Ponteland Rugby Club. Blair"s international debut came on 15 June 2002 against Canada and scored his first try for his country in the same game.
He was injured playing for Edinburgh against the Llanelli Scarlets in January 2007 and required surgery on his shoulder which prevented him from playing in the entire 2007 Six Nations Championship. Blair was made captain of his country for the first time against Ireland in the 2008 Six Nations Championship and for the next 12 consecutive games.
He captained the national side 14 times in total.
Blair made his 50th appearance against Argentina in 2008 (2nd test). That year he was included, at number 12, in a list of the 50 best rugby players in the world by The Independent newspaper. Having been left out of the original Lions touring squad to South Africa in 2009, Blair was called up as a replacement for the injured Tomás O"Leary on 11 May, starting against The Presidents XV and the Southern Kings and coming off the bench against the Sharks.
Mike was included in Scotland"s 2011 Rugby World Cup Squadron
He scored the first try in the team"s first match against Romania on 10 September, a 34–24 victory to Scotland. He started against England later in the tournament winning his 75th cap.
Blair earned his final cap before retirement against South Africa in November 2012. He got 85 caps for his country.
He is Scotland"s most capped scrum-half of all time.
Blair was a member of Scotland"s 2003, 2007 and 2011 World Cup squads.