Edinburgh coach Mike Blair’s voice cracked, and he had to pause to gather his emotions, as he reflected on the death of his old team-mate, mentor and friend Tom Smith.
The pair represented Scotland together a dozen times in the early 2000s and Blair later played under Smith when the former prop served as assistant coach at Edinburgh between 2009 and 2012.
Smith – who picked up 61 caps for Scotland in total and played in six Test matches for the Lions – died on Wednesday following a brave three-year battle against cancer. Blair was in front of the media yesterday to explain his team selection for tonight’s European Challenge Cup match against Pau but will have known that he was going to be asked to discuss the loss, and he spoke from the heart.
“I remember it really clearly, when Gregor [Townsend] told us at the World Cup in 2019 about his diagnosis and the outlook,” recalled the former Scotland assistant coach, who took over the Edinburgh job at the start of this season. “At that point, it was stage four and the time on it was months, so the fight he has shown over three years, he was just … I was really upset by it yesterday.”
“I knew a couple of weeks ago that he was struggling and sent him a message and he was back to me within two minutes, thinking of other people. It’s a big loss.”
“You can see through the tributes on social media about the type of character he was. Some of it is about the quality of the player, but a lot of it is about the quality of the man.”
Blair recalled Smith’s influence in 2005, when the fortunes of the national team plummeted following a complete breakdown in the relationship between Australian head coach Matt Williams and the player group.
“Tom’s chat before the 2005 Scotland versus England game when the coaches had left the room was a moment I will always remember,” he said. “Around that time, we were having a little bit of a struggle under Matt Williams and the results hadn’t been too positive, and Tom pulled the guys together and really galvanised them before that game.
“He also spoke well at half-time in the Scotland versus Wales game when we were 30 points down then managed to pull it back.
“He just did things in a nice way. He was such a decent human being. He just wanted to help the team and push us on. If Tom spoke, it was generally something important or passionate, or something that had frustrated him. He was an incredibly well-respected player and man, and great around his family.”
There will be a minute’s silence at the DAM Health Stadium before tonight’s match. “Stuart McInally [Edinburgh’s co-captain] addressed the guys this morning,” explained Blair. “Tom obviously spent a spell with us coaching so he knew a few of our guys, and he spent some time in the national camp as well. Stuart spoke really well about the impact Tom had and we felt it was appropriate as a club to mark that.”
Blair has made nine changes to his starting XV for tonight’s game, which Edinburgh need to win to ensure a home draw in the last 16.
Stand-off Blair Kinghorn and flanker Hamish Watson are unavailable due to the player welfare protocols which are in place for international squad members. Meanwhile, Edinburgh were not obligated to rest centres Mark Bennett and James Lang, or scrum-half Ben Vellacott, but decided that to do so is the best strategy for the individual and the team.
“We’re aware that although they didn’t get a huge amount of minutes in the Six Nations, they were away for pretty much that whole period,” explained Blair. “The guys who stayed with us played and trained hard during that period, but they also had two separate weeks off to freshen up.
“If we play as well as I believe we can over the next few weeks then there is a possibility that we can have multiple games in a row without any break at all, so it’s important we manage those guys and give opportunities to those who have put their hand up.”
Edinburgh (v Pau at the DAM Health Stadium, 8pm GMT Friday): H Immelman; D Graham, M Currie, C Hutchison, R Moyano; J van der Walt, H Pyrgos; P Schoeman, S McInally, L De Bruin, M Sykes, G Gilchrist (captain), G Young, C Boyle, M Bradbury. Substitutes: A McBurney, B Venter, W Nel, J Hodgson, P Phillips, C Shiel, C Savala, C Dean.
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