Edinburgh scrum-half Mike Blair will captain Scotland in their November Tests against New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.

The 27-year-old has been rewarded for his performances as skipper when the Scots claimed their first Test win in Argentina in June as well as the Calcutta Cup victory over England earlier this year.

"Experience and continuity are key factors in the international game and we believe Mike deserves the opportunity to build on his most recent contributions, both as a player and captain, to the Scotland team," said head coach Frank Hadden.

Blair, who has skippered Scotland on five occasions, said: "It's a tremendous privilege to captain your country and I know from the first time I had that honour at Murrayfield earlier this year that the crowd can inspire us.

"Against England, when we had to dig that little bit deeper, the supporters were fantastic and it would be great if we could enjoy that level of vocal encouragement against the All Blacks, Springboks and Canada next month."

Announcing the appointment of Blair, Hadden also revealed that he would have his players available for training 12 days before the All Blacks appear at Murrayfield on November 8.

That follows the intervention of the International Rugby Board in a dispute between the Scottish Rugby Union and the English Premiership, which had sought to restrict access to English-based players to five days.

Hadden welcomed the IRB ruling, although the SRU did not get the full two-week preparation period they had demanded and must temporarily release players required by their clubs on the weekend prior to the All Blacks clash.

"The games we have coming up next month are massively important for Scottish Rugby," Hadden said.

"We face New Zealand, South Africa and Canada over three weeks and how we go in these contests will play a major part in determining our ranking for the 2011 World Cup draw in December."

AFP

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