Cusiter urges Scots to step up
February 04 2010
Chris Cusiter has warned Scotland's Glasgow stars they need to better their Magners League-topping form to beat France in Sunday's Six Nations opener.
Scotland captain Cusiter was one of nine Warriors players selected by Andy Robinson for his first championship game in charge, reflecting the club's blistering start to the domestic season.
But although Cusiter believes "familiarity" will be an asset this weekend, he insisted that alone it would not be enough to secure victory.
"There's a level of familiarity about the Glasgow guys - we've been playing well all season," explained the scrum-half.
"But the point is, this is the Six Nations and it's a step up.
"From one to 22, we have to step up our game.
"Playing as we do in the Magners League won't be good enough on Sunday."
Cusiter is also hoping some inside knowledge pays off this weekend, with the 27-year-old one of three of Robinson's 22 to have played in France.
"I really enjoy playing against French sides and France in particular," said Cusiter, who spent two years at Perpignan.
"They play some of the best rugby in the world and I think, having played out there, I maybe understand a bit more about their mentality and certainly their language."
He added: "It's a great advantage for us to be playing at Murrayfield.
"I think it's 62,000 seats sold so it's being close to a full house, which would be fantastic for us, getting that big crowd behind us.
"We know we've got a massive challenge playing France.
"They're probably the favourites for the championship."
Cusiter was involved the last time Scotland beat France in the opening match of the 2006 Six Nations.
That built momentum which resulted in arguably the country's best championship performance of the last decade.
Despite acknowledging the importance of a winning start, Cusiter was unwilling to reflect on it's consequences.
"It would be huge but that's a long way away," he said.
"We've got to concentrate on how we're going to get there.
"Training's gone well this week, we've got a good game plan behind us.
"We have to go out and execute and that's all down to us, to the players and the guys coming off the bench.
"The pressure's on, as it always is, but we're excited about the challenge and we're going to enjoy it."
Robinson's first three games in charge during the autumn could hardly have gone better from a defensive point of view but the same old problems that have existed for years were still in evidence behind the scrum.
Cusiter knows he and fly-half Phil Godman are under pressure to create more tryscoring opportunities on Sunday.
"We had a good autumn series; we felt we made a lot of good progress," he said.
"We've been training really well, we've got a good game plan in place and good players."
He added: "We want to attack, we want to score tries.
"We were disappointed only to score a couple in the autumn.
"But we know with the attacking players that we have and the moves that we have, we are capable of beating any defence."
Cusiter, who will earn his 48th cap this weekend, goes head to head with 21-year-old Clermont Auvergne starlet Morgan Parra.
"I played against him a couple of times in the French championship over the last couple of years," said Cusiter of the man chosen to replace the suspended Julien Dupuy.
"He's a young hope.
"But obviously he's the man in possession and a very, very accomplished player for his age.
"He controls the forwards as if he was 30 years old."