Mike Blair, the Scotland scrum-half, reports on the mood in the British and Irish Lions camp as they aim to bounce back from last week’s first Test setback, when they face South Africa in Pretoria this weekend.

First things first.  I’m delighted for Fordy (Ross Ford), who has been rewarded for a good shift against the Emerging Springboks in midweek with a place on the bench for Saturday’s Test at Loftus Versfeld. His added bulk should help to rein in the strong South African scrum and I really hope he gets some game time.

I’ve not been selected for the 22 and that’s a position no rugby player likes to be in.  But I’ve still got a part to play in this series and all I can do is aim to do that to the highest standard possible.  My role this week is training against the Test team and giving them every chance to be as best prepared as possible for the second Test.

Scotland captain Mike Blair updates the Scottish Rugby website with his latest blog from the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa as the first Test looms large on the horizon.

My wife and my mum and dad are arriving in South Africa this week along with what seems like thousands of other British and Irish Lions supporters and that can only mean one thing – the first Test against the Springboks is next up.

We arrive at that point with a played six won six record but no-one will remember much about that if we don’t get off to a winning start in the Test series.

Scotland captain Mike Blair shared in the British and Irish Lions most recent triumph – their 39-3 midweek win against the Natal Sharks in Durban.  Blair sends his latest blog as the Lions now move on to Cape Town with a played four won four record.

I’m writing this the morning after the Lions continued winning ways against the Sharks and before we catch our flight to Cape Town for Saturday’s game against Western Province.

Durban is part of South Africa that I know quite well, having been here with Scotland in both 2003 and 2006.  On both those occasions we stayed at the Beverley Hills Hotel in Umhlangha Rocks – a great hotel, right on the coast, where it seems every room has an ocean view.

Scotland captain Mike Blair brings us up to date with what’s happening on the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa with his second exclusive blog for the Scottish Rugby website

Well, that’s the first two games of our tour completed.  Things clicked on Wednesday night against the Golden Lions in Johannesburg as we won 74-10.  There were some great individual displays and it was good to see our hard work in training paying off.

What impressed me was our commitment right ‘til the final whistle.  We only had 14 players on the pitch due one or two bumps and bruises in the last ten minutes but we didn’t concede a try during that period and scored two ourselves for good measure.