Scotland captain Mike Blair maintains being Edinburgh’s bench boy against Newport Gwent Dragons won’t affect his battle for the No.9 shirt with international rival Chris Cusiter.

Edinburgh coach Rob Moffat opted to start young scrum-half Greig Laidlaw for the match on Sunday giving Glasgow’s Cusiter one last chance to impress Scotland boss Andy Robinson.

But Blair is not worried about his rival stealing a match on him with Scotland facing Fiji at Murrayfield on November 14.

He said: “Chris is a quality player and if he was to play in front of me against Fiji then you have to say 'well done'; that's how it should be.

“I am very comfortable about being on the bench. I spoke to Rob about it before the Munster game and it was decided then that is what we would do in these two games, because Greig started the season well and he is trying to keep that competitive edge in the team.

“Last week was my sixth game on the trot and I have also spoken to Andy about it and he says he is very comfortable with me being on the bench, as he knows what I can do and it will mean I'm a bit fresher.”