Heineken run is perfect end to Edinburgh spell for Blair

THERE could be a sense for Edinburgh’s Mike Blair that he is leaving the party just when the entertainment is arriving, but the international scrum-half does not view it that way.

Preparing for what could be his last game in an Edinburgh jersey, he insists that he will not be trying harder to secure victory in this weekend’s Heineken Cup semi-final with Ulster as a leaving present to the club he has served all his rugby life, simply because he could not try harder than he has up to now.

He admits, however, that a belief that Edinburgh were capable of challenging the top clubs in Europe was why he kept re-signing when clubs, ironically including Ulster, tried to tempt him away.

The 31-year-old is still to agree terms with a new club, with Perpignan one of several suitors, and he stated: “I’ll let you know where I’m going once I know myself.

“I’ve not thought about it a huge amount to be honest. My first big decision was whether to go or not and, once I made that decision, it made things easier for me because it meant I would definitely be moving away and trying something different, and that took a pressure off my shoulders

“I don’t know how many years I’ve got left, maybe three or four, and it’s great to see things taking off here. I’m sure I’d have a fantastic time if I stayed at Edinburgh until I was 35, but rugby provides opportunities to travel and get into another community, and it would be a regret if I didn’t try it.

“The key thing for me is living in the moment and doing as much as I can to help us progress as far as we can in this tournament.

“This is a position we’ve never been in before and everyone’s really pleased with the accomplishment already, but we are aware that we have a chance of going one step further.”

He expects this weekend’s match to be tougher than the quarter-final with Toulouse, both because it is a semi-final and because of the opposition, not least with the brief insight he has had to the opponents.

“We’ll definitely be massive underdogs for the semi-final, but there’s a lot of pressure on this Ulster team,” he added.

“When I re-signed a couple of years ago I had interest from Ulster and one of the things they said was that they wanted to win the Heineken Cup in a couple of years, and so there is a lot of pressure on them, Leinster and Clermont to win, because of the squads that they’ve got.

“We’ve kind of snuck in under the radar and no-one’s really been talking about us as a potential winner of the tournament, and as Scots I think that’s when we perform best.”