Blair To Lead Scotland Against The Blacks

Edinburgh scrum-half Mike Blair will captain Scotland in Saturday’s crunch EMC Autumn Test showdown against New Zealand at Murrayfield (kick-off 5.15pm).It will be the first time that the classy British and Irish Lions No 9 has led his country since the Calcutta Cup game at Twickenham in March 2009.Edinburgh scrum-half Mike Blair will captain Scotland in Saturday’s crunch EMC Autumn Test showdown against New Zealand at Murrayfield (kick-off 5.15pm).It will be the first time that the classy British and Irish Lions No 9 has led his country since the Calcutta Cup game at Twickenham in March 2009.Blair is one of four Edinburgh players today named in Andy Robinson’s 22 to face down the All Blacks. Allan Jacobsen and Ross Ford will both start in the front row, while flanker Ross Rennie, a substitute, is in line to make his first international appearance since debuting against Ireland at Croke Park in February 2008.Two former Edinburgh favourites, Hugo Southwell and Jim Hamilton, are both included in the starting XV. Glasgow Warriors stand-off Ruaridh Jackson is in line to make his Scotland debut off the bench.SCOTLAND TEAM FOR EMC AUTUMN TEST VS NEW ZEALAND, MURRAYFIELD STADIUM, SATURDAY 13 NOVEMBER, KICK-OFF 5.15PM15 Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais)14 Rory Lamont (Toulon)13 Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors)12 Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors)11 Sean Lamont (Scarlets)10 Dan Parks (Cardiff Blues)9 Mike Blair (Edinburgh, CAPTAIN)1 Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh)2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh)3 Euan Murray (Northampton Saints)4 Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors)5 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)6 Kelly Brown (Saracens)8 Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors)7 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)SUBSTITUTES16 Scott Lawson (Gloucester)17 Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester)18 Nathan Hines (Leinster)19 Ross Rennie (Edinburgh)20 Rory Lawson (Gloucester)21 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)22 Nikki Walker (Ospreys)More than 51,500 tickets have been sold for Saturday’s game. The remaining seats can still be booked in three ways: via the Scottish Rugby website (www.scottishrugby.org); via the 24 hour phone line 0844 335 3933; or in person from the Scottish Rugby Ticket Centre, Gate A, Roseburn Street, Edinburgh.Please note there are no ticket sales on match day._ Website and phone line sales close at 12 midnight on Friday, while the Ticket Centre is open for personal purchasers from 9am-8pm, Monday to Friday this week.Tickets are priced at ?20, ?25 and ?45 for adults and ?10, ?12.50 and ?22.50 for under-18s._