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.

Last weekend in Durban was quite an experience.  The non-playing players were in seats behind the sticks and it wasn’t a bad view.  Obviously before the game we were talking about the number of Lions supporters who had flown into South Africa.  There were some fairly large sections of vocal, red-clad supporters but I was amazed by how noisy the South Africans were.   They had all been given the flags of the rainbow nation and the collective wave of South African flags was an incredible sight.

I had to nip to the toilet ten minutes into the game – where I bumped into my former Edinburgh team-mate Conan Sharman who lives in Durban now.  We didn’t have much time to catch up though as I had to get back to the game but it was nice to see an old team-mate.

South Africa had got off to a very good start and, looking back, they didn’t do a huge amount.  What they did do, though, they did well.  They kicked intelligently and pressed in defence.  The Lions had a lot of the ball, especially in the last 20 minutes when we showed what was possible when you look after the ball.

I noted the comments from the South African camp this week about their relief at the injury absence of Euan Murray from the Lions squad.  Euan suffered an ankle injury against the Southern Kings which ended his tour and Victor Matfield, the South African lock, was saying in the papers here how much difficultly Euan had caused them at Murrayfield last November and how fortunate that he has had to go home injured now.

It’s no consolation for Euan, of course, and I wish him a speedy recovery. It will be great for Euan to read that though as there is nothing better than respect from your peers.

Our game this midweek in Cape Town was played out under stormy skies.  I was on the bench, huddled under an umbrella.  We made a good start and Keith Earls scored a fine try. He reminds me of Christian Cullen when he’s stepping and I’ve been impressed by his attacking play and his balanced running.  Our props, Tim Payne and John Hayes, both deserve credit for their stint, coming as it did just days after getting off the plane. The Emerging Springboks scored a pretty good try and touchline conversion to draw the game, though they celebrated as if they’d won.

Earlier, during some down time in Cape Town I went with my wife Viv, her sister Rosalie and brother in law James on a tour up Table Mountain and down to Camps Bay.  There were some terrific views and I can imagine when the sun is shining – which hasn’t happened whilst we’ve been in Cape Town – it would be a great place to chill out. 

For those of you who watched the OC when it was on the telly, before it was so cruelly cut, the houses and beaches are very similar.

It was also nice to get a wee gift from Adidas.  All the players sponsored by Adidas got a couple of pairs of boots with a Lions motif on the tongue and our initials on them, which is a great piece of memorabilia.

I’m looking forward to the game this weekend and fingers crossed it will all come down to the following week in Jo’burg.

Mike Blair
Scotland captain

British & Irish Lions v South Africa on Saturday 27 June

15 Rob Kearney (Leinster/Ireland)

14 Tommy Bowe (Ospreys/Ireland)
13 Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster/Ireland)
12 Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
11 Luke Fitzgerald (Leinster/Ireland)

10 Stephen Jones (Scarlets/Wales)
9 Mike Phillips (Ospreys/Wales)

1 Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
2 Matthew Rees (Scarlets/Wales)
3 Adam Jones (Ospreys/Wales)
4 Simon Shaw (London Wasps/England)
5 Paul O'Connell (Munster/Ireland) Captain
6 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers/England)
8 Jamie Heaslip (Leinster/Ireland)
7 David Wallace (Munster/Ireland)

Substitutes:
16 Ross Ford (Edinburgh/Scotland)
17 Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks/England)
18 Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys/Wales)
19 Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
20 Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers/England)
21 Ronan O'Gara (Munster/Ireland)
22 Shane Williams (Ospreys/Wales