Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter insist they are more than happy to share the Scotland captaincy after Andy Robinson appointed them joint skippers for the autumn internationals.

Speaking publicly for the first time about Monday's surprise announcement, the scrum-half rivals talked up the unusual leadership model devised by new head coach Robinson.

Edinburgh star Blair, 28, who had been the sole holder of the armband for the last year-and-a-half, said: "It's something new, it's something different.

"Another country hasn't done it; I don't think another club has done it.

"So it'll definitely be a feeling-out phase to start with, but it's really exciting.

"Obviously, with both of us being in the same position, only one of us is going to be able to go on to the pitch as captain but we'll support the other guy and hopefully this'll make for a winning Scotland team."

Glasgow counterpart Cusiter, 27, added: "It's a new situation, a unique situation but we feel we can make the best out of it and I think that all the players believe that as well."

Explaining his thinking this week, former England boss Robinson played down the significance of the armband itself, insisting he wanted "leaders" in every area of the field.

Blair said: "You've kind of got a leadership hierarchy where Chris and I are at the top and then we've got leaders of line-outs, leaders of defence, leaders of attack - so there's a great group of people around us to help push this leadership forward."

Cusiter revealed the model worked well during this week's three-day training camp at St Andrews.

And he believes it will pay dividends when substitutions are made during this month's Tests, which kick-off with next Saturday's clash against Fiji.

"Both of us know the tactics and the game plan like the back of our hands," said Cusiter, who captained Scotland A during this summer's tour to Romania.

"We've been in involved in all the decision-making processes so bringing one guy on hopefully shouldn't affect the tactical side of the game but, at the same time, it's bringing on a fresh set of legs."

Cusiter and Blair have been vying for the scrum-half jersey for several years, with the latter's appointment as captain seeing his rival playing second-fiddle of late.

Cusiter told BBC Scotland: "To be on the bench over the last couple of years was tough but knowing I was behind a player like Mike made it sometimes a little bit easier to take.

"Obviously, we both want to be playing, so that's where the competition comes in.

"But, with this system, I think that we'll both have opportunities and we'll both be supporting the other one, so I think we can make a positive situation out of this."

Blair added: "There's a mutual respect, I think; we've both been on the Scotland scene for almost six, seven years now.

"We're both capable in what we can do as players and I'm a real fan of the way Chris plays.

"I think he leads by example and that's something that's going to be really important going into these autumn internationals."

Robinson revealed this week he had settled on his dual-captaincy model after discussing the concept over dinner with his new joint skippers.

Blair joked: "We made it clear he would pay and we'd order the most expensive things off the menu.

"I don't know whether that came out of his account or the SRU account."