Blackadder fresh as Canterbury lamb

The man they call ‘Grey Way’ in Canterbury because of the silver threads in his hair, has no intention of being put out to pasture yet. He has a few points to prove about his own game in the face of a small army of cynics who claim that he is heading for Edinburgh and a three-year contract to top up his pension. All of which can only be good news for Scottish rugby.

Blackadder, who turned 30 on Thursday, has certainly been angered by the tone of some of the stories which followed his decision to end a decade’s association with Canterbury. Many inferred that his best days were behind him, and that Scotland was a riches-laden bolt-hole. His answer is simply this: "One thing I’ve got up my sleeve is I’m not past it. I know a lot of people have said I’m washed up, gone, past my best, that sort of stuff. Probably if you looked at this year’s Super 12 it might have looked like that, because I was buggered.

"But I’m feeling good right now, probably the fittest I’ve been in a long time. I’ve dropped quite a bit of weight. I was running round at over 18 stone last year, but now I’m down to about 17 and a half. I’m feeling so much fresher. I’m totally rejuvenated both physically and mentally. I’m coming over as a contracted player to play, and I’m going there to play bloody well. I feel like I’ve got a few more years in me yet."

Blackadder comes from a hard school, and has showed that in a number of ways, not least recovery from a car accident when his vehicle plunged into a Collingwood creek. The legacy of that is a C-shaped scar on his cheek.

Edinburgh and Scotland should reap the legacy of his 122 games with Canterbury since his debut in 1991. He has also had six seasons of Super-12 rugby with the Crusaders, three of them ending in Blackadder raising the silverware at the end, and 12 tests with the All Blacks, ten as captain.

He’s Mr Rugby in his home province, having mixed cast-iron qualities and rugby ability with leadership, salt-of-the-earth character and endearing humility to emerge as the prototype inspirational leader. He is a throwback to an age when you swung your fists to earn early doses of respect, then went on to swing matches once team-mates, and foes, knew you had what it takes.

The best of the old, with the qualities of the new. Playing for pay, but also for pride, Blackadder believes that the fresh challenges of a new team, new country, new style of rugby and, of course, that top-tier contract (reputed to be worth nearly 150,000 a year) might even make him a more valuable player in Scotland than the land of his birth.

"I’m coming over to grow my own game as a player. I feel like I’ve got a spring in my step. That’s part of the reason why I thought I should move on. I wanted to while I’m feeling good and feel like I’m back to my best form."

It’s hard to argue that Blackadder is not in the groove, maybe even playing well enough to have the All Black selectors ruing their decision to bypass him this season in favour of the leadership of the young hooker Anton Oliver. His Canterbury team are hovering round the top of the NPC, and have just dispensed a record hammering to Laurie Mains and the old southern enemy Otago, in which Blackadder galloped round like a man two-thirds his age.

He also confirmed that there is a desire to move into coaching during his stint in Scotland, maybe to become another John Mitchell, who played a vital part in the regeneration of Sale and England. "The Scottish Rugby Union is going to help me with that as well. It will all make me a more rounded person," says Blackadder. "It’s what made the package they put together so attractive."

So what does he know of the game here? Blackadder captained the All Blacks to two victories over Scotland in 2000 (69-20 in Dunedin and 48-14 in Auckland) and says: "They’re not a bad side. They showed last year they’ve got a bit of work to do. I think northern hemisphere rugby doesn’t play with the same intensity week in, week out. You see the English team and possibly the Lions - they’re very good for one or two games. But when Graham Henry took them on that Lions tour, you’d see the likes of the half-back squealing about the pressure, little things like that. One thing is if they’re going to get good they’ve got to grow that [intensity] into their game."

Certainly Blackadder hopes to set a tone at Edinburgh: to take a leaf out of Canterbury’s book, and instil the pride factor. "Hopefully, I’ll try to get some consistency as far as games and results go," he says.

Blackadder certainly comes from the right stock. Rangiora, a farming community north of Christchurch, could well be placed in the Scottish Borders, and some Scottish roots spread there if you cast back far enough, with descendants on his father’s side part of the Blackadder clan.

"We’ve got a family tree from Scotland, and when I was over there in ’93 for the sevens, I think they discovered I was a couple of generations out of playing for Scotland. But there’s a Blackadder pub, a Blackadder river, and I even think there’s a Blackadder drink. It might be a rum and coke or something, so I’ll probably have a few of those."

He’ll be missed back home, that’s for sure. "The man is a legend," says Canterbury coach Steve Hansen.

"The respect he has among the team is huge," adds fellow ex-All Black Daryl Gibson. "He’s been playing some of the best football of his career this season."

Blackadder admits that the decision was a tough one, and caused him to fret long and hard.

He seriously considered a New Zealand union offer to stay. But he sincerely believes that the timing is right for a change of scene. He says that he leaves his province in good heart, and is ready to go and to leave his mark on another part of the rugby world.

"It has been special. It feels like I’ve been privileged. I’ll miss putting on that red and black jersey. I’m really going to miss that. But this is a good time for me to move on. I need to do other things in my life, take a new direction."

Right now that direction points in a distinctly northerly direction.