Former All Black fitness adviser Jim Blair has reactivated his Super 12 career as a consultant to the visiting Sharks.
Blair answered a plea from his old mate Ian McIntosh to help the group charged with sorting out the Sharks after the mid-series coaching cleanout.
The request startled, flattered andtempted Blair, whose last serious rugby duties were with Fiji at the 2003 World Cup.
Since then he has been working at the Palaestra gym in Albany.
But an unsolicited email to the gym on Easter Monday started events leading to Blair being in Hamilton helping the Sharks prepare for tomorrow's match with the Chiefs.
"Originally they wanted me to get on a plane and get over to South Africa for a few days before they came back here," Blair said.
"But I couldn't get any flights so met them at the airport here when they arrived.
"It is a real buzz to be back at this level; it is great and the guys are all very professional.
"They have a great staff. I am just helping out, giving them a few different ideas from another perspective."
Blair was fitness guru to the Blues when they won their first two titles in 1996 and 1997 and during those times became friendly with McIntosh, who coached the Sharks and the Boks, and Dick Muir, now coach, who was then a Sharks midfielder. "After one of the trips there, Mac asked me to stay and work with the Boks for a month ... That was the start of the link."
The 70-year-old Blair said he had missed the challenges of working with professional rugby sides.
He has initially agreed to work with the Sharks for their three games in New Zealand and one in Brisbane.
