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.

The management have said everyone will get a start in the first three games so it’s up to those players handed the jersey against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday to build on the good work.

I wasn’t involved in the 22 midweek, having played in the tour opener last Saturday against the Royal XV in Rustenburg.

From an individual perspective there were a couple of things didn’t go my way, while from the team point of view some guys hadn’t played for four or five weeks so it was possibly never going to be the smoothest of games in any event.

But I think it was a good run-out against pretty good opposition who took a bit of breaking down.  We did create quite a lot of opportunities and the key of course is finishing them.

I had a bit of a sore ankle after the game which has restricted my training in the early part of this week and, on a less important note, also meant that I missed out on the sponsors’ golf day.

The guys played on a Gary Player designed course, which, apparently only has around 120 members and the way you qualify for membership is through having a house – and we were talking huge estates here – on the course.  It was a pretty tough challenge by all accounts watched by grazing springboks and wildebeest.

Before we travelled up to Rustenburg we had a reception at the British High Commission. I bumped into quite a few Scots including the general manager of Proctor & Gamble in South Africa who knew my wife Viv’s sister – a small world as they say.

During the reception we discovered that, contrary to what many have been led to believe over the years, Brian O’Driscoll cannot walk on water.

BOD was walking on what he thought was crazy paving but it transpired it was one of those special covers for a swimming pool and he got a tad wet.

Maintaining the Irish theme I’ve been rooming with Tommy Bowe in Jo’Burg this week (two tries against the Golden Lions), while up in Rustenburg I was rooming with Paul O’Connell. 

We’ve been keeping the locals entertained at our hotel courtesy of Euan Murray and Riki Flutey and their portable karaoke machine.  Riki is pretty musical and plays the guitar and we all know how good a voice Euan has.

They did a two-and-a-half hour performance in the hotel reception and it was pretty special.  That’s the kind of buzz we’re aiming to create on the field too as we prepare for Saturday’s clash with the Cheetahs.

Mike Blair

Scotland captain