British and Irish Lions

The Calcutta Cup winning captain and scrum-half collected his prize at an awards ceremony at Murrayfield Stadium on Friday night.

The award was part of a double for Blair who also captured the Celtic League player of the season prize.

Meanwhile, his Edinburgh and Scotland team-mate, hooker Ross Ford, won the award for Try of the Season with his glorious score against Leicester Tigers in the European Cup at Murrayfield.

Blair said: "It's been a fantastic year for me.

"I always say that it's an honour to play for Scotland but to captain Scotland in this season's Six Nations was a dream come true.

"To win both the Magners and Scotland player of the season in the same year just caps off an excellent season for me."

Assistant coach Graham Rowntree says The British & Irish Lions will have to be fully focussed to avoid a potential banana skin when they face The Barbarians a week today.

Three former British & Irish Lions will line-up against an England XV at Twickenham Stadium on Sunday as the Barbarians warm-up for their showdown with the 2013 tourists in Hong Kong next week.

Lions skipper Sam Warburton says the lessons he and his Welsh colleagues learnt in Australia last summer will stand them in good stead for their return visit with Britain and Ireland's elite next month.