Chris Cusiter is out to avoid unwanted Scots hat-trick

Published on Friday 19 March 2010 22:19

SCOTLAND have gone into the final weekend of a Six Nations Championship needing to win to avoid the wooden spoon before, but there is a palpably different feel to the squad as they prepare to face Ireland in Croke Park's emotionally-charged and potentially stormy final Test match.

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Chris Paterson may not be with the squad as a kidney injury keeps him sidelined and unlikely to play again this season, but his painful experiences of leading Scotland to two wooden spoons were also felt by the current skipper, Chris Cusiter. The scrum-half's first championship began as half-back partner to Paterson in 2004 and ended with that horrible wooden taste after he had been preferred to Mike Blair by coach Matt Williams.

He started the first four of the 2007 games before being replaced by Rory Lawson for the final one, in France, as despite matching their best points tally for the Six Nations, points difference consigned Scotland to bottom again for the second time in Six Nations history. Cusiter is staring down the barrel of a similar ending to his first season as Scotland captain, but remains defiantly confident of avoiding an unwanted 'hat-trick' by exhorting his side to show the finishing skills they have threatened, but failed to execute so far in Andy Robinson's first championship.

There is a clear expectation on the streets of Dublin and nationwide of Ireland ascending to their fifth Triple Crown in seven seasons; few in this neck of the woods can even fathom the possibility of a Scottish win. It is fair to assume that few in Scotland harbour great hopes either after a record of three defeats and a draw to date. But this game comes down to the size of the gap between the Celtic sides, which is unknown because Scotland have not yet shown their best.

Cusiter acknowledged: "We're under pressure, having not won in the championship. As a group we feel we should have won so we have one last opportunity here and we're putting ourselves under pressure to get that.

"They're going for the Triple Crown and it's their last match at Croke Park. They will definitely come out fired up because they'll be hugely motivated and that's a big thing for us to deal with, but that means we'll need to be in a similar state of mind and come out all guns firing.

"We are confident. In my first year we didn't win a game and we weren't even close to winning them, but compared to that this is hugely different. We've lost narrowly and feel we should have won a number of them, and while we're obviously disappointed, in terms of the way we're playing, our understanding and the number of guys we have with a lot of experience and who are now in their prime or approaching their prime, there are a lot of positives.

"But you're judged on results and so far in this Six Nations we haven't got them. I'm frustrated and I know a lot of people are frustrated with the way the games have gone, because we have had great opportunities to get wins, especially on the road down in Wales and in Italy and last week at home. We picked up a draw but we had enough possession to win that, and are really frustrated by it.

"We're not far away and if we keep making improvements then this whole Six Nations will have been a valuable experience for us, but at the moment we have one game to go and it's a game we're capable of winning. I am absolutely 100 per cent confident that we're capable of beating them, but we have to play our best game in the championship."

It is becoming a worn mantra, but one feels for Cusiter and Robinson in that there is little more they can say. They are doing a lot right in many facets of the game and are building a dangerous side, but they know why they are falling down, and it is largely due to individuals' failure to execute skills in the "scoring zone" of the pitch and the last quarter of games.

"It (scoring] is an issue," acknowledged Cusiter, "because if we'd scored a couple of tries last week we'd have won the game. It's costing us and we have spoken a lot about being in the opposition 22 and having more of a focus to be able to finish these things off.

"But it's not a big step to kick on and score these tries, because we're getting good possession and field position; we just have to be a bit more clinical when we get there. The tries against Wales came from us being clinical and direct and I don't think there's a huge improvement to make, but it would be a very significant one to score a couple of tries this weekend."

The Irish back line is formidable with Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls adding fresh dynamism to the centre pairing of Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, but even without the injured trio of Paterson, Rory Lamont and Thom Evans, Scotland have strong attacking talents across their side, from the back row to Cusiter, the power of Graeme Morrison to the pace and raw determination of Nick De Luca, and then the blends of Sean Lamont, Max Evans and Hugo Southwell at the back.

Few might win selection ahead of their opponents right now if there was a resurrection of the old Irish/Scottish combined side, but the gap between the two might not be that great if Scotland fulfil the promise as a team witnessed only in short bursts so far this year.

There has been much talk in the build-up to this finale of two areas of contention, the scrum and the tackle area, where constant resets in the former and stricter refereeing of the latter to ensure players tackled can release the ball and keep the game flowing, have been seized upon by coaches eager for clarity.

The reason, of course, is that these are viewed as crucial to each's ability to dominate and claim an edge in a tight game. Scotland have a good scrum when it functions, yet have not had the benefit of that in this championship, and while the Scots are improving their ability to ruck sides off a tackle and retain ball, the Irish have been picking up penalties at the breakdown, which could hand the Scots field position and points.

Robinson expects a huge back row battle, but as well as cutting down the trio of Stephen Ferris, David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip, he also pointed to the need to stop Jonny Sexton, the stand-off, and wing Bowe before they pick up steam.

Both teams are determined to finish with a strong flourish and while the forecast of rain for this afternoon may prove inhibiting, encouraging players to shorten the length of passes and tilt the balance of counter-attacks from deep in favour of hefty hoofs downfield, the Scots, certainly, know their best opportunity of seizing a first victory and keeping the wooden spoon in Italy lies in a bold, daring and ambitious approach.

Scotland should create real problems for Ireland this evening, but the crux is whether Cusiter's men yet have the ability to exploit those critical moments and score the points needed to silence Croke Park's rugby denizens for the last time.

"We're not here with any thoughts other than winning," Cusiter made clear when asked if a good display and tries, even in defeat, would be progress.

"Not winning is a failure. We have been disappointed with our lack of victories in this championship and we come here with the objective of winning; I haven't thought about any other scenario.

"To finish the championship without a win would be massively disappointing. This is our last chance and we've got to take it."

SO DISMAL IN DUBLIN

SCOTLAND never lost to Ireland in an unprecedented level of dominance in the fixture from 1989 to 1999, but have won just one championship match since, at Murrayfield in 2001. The Dublin record is in serious need of a lift.

2000 – Lansdowne Road

Ireland 44 Scotland 22

After winning the 1999 Five Nations, Ian McGeechan's return as Scotland coach opened with defeat to Italy in the first game of the new 'Six Nations' tournament. He hoped things would improve in Ireland as the Scots had not lost to their Celtic cousins in 12 meetings and 12 years, and Ireland had just shipped 50 points at Twickenham. But after a tight first half that ended 13-10 to the hosts, the Scots imploded and Ireland ran in five tries in all from five different players. Kenny Logan, Glenn Metcalfe and George Graham scored for Scotland.

2002 – Lansdowne Road

Ireland 43 Scotland 22

Scots who had endured the Dublin weekend at the start of the millennium returned with a simple hope: it could not get any worse than last time. It did not, but it came very close as Brian O'Driscoll shone in his home city. Bryan Redpath's side, and specifically the centre pairing of Jim McLaren and Andy Henderson, could not contain the burgeoning attacking talents of O'Driscoll. The Irish centre grabbed a hat-trick and was joined on the scoresheet by Shane Horgan and Simon Easterby, with only a Martin Leslie score in response.

2004 – Lansdowne Road

Ireland 37 Scotland 16

Scotland landed in Dublin with their first championship under Matt Williams having brought misery in defeat to Wales, England, Italy and France, the last a 31-0 thrashing at Murrayfield, while the Irish had recovered from a similarly hefty loss to the French in the first game to see off Wales, England and the Italians and be on track for a first Triple Crown in 20 years. They achieved it with something to spare, Allister Hogg continuing Scotland's trend of a try per game, while Gordon D'Arcy (2), Geordan Murphy, David Wallace and Peter Stringer showed the Scots the way to the line.

2006 – Lansdowne Road

Ireland 15 Scotland 9

In Frank Hadden's first championship as head coach, Scotland saw off France and England at Murrayfield but lost to Wales. They turned up in Dublin looking to claim the first back-to-back wins in the tournament since 2001. They produced a bristling defensive display that Ireland could not pierce and the hosts had to rely on Ronan O'Gara's five penalties against three from Chris Paterson for victory.

2008 – Croke Park

Ireland 34 Scotland 13

This was a similar story to the one Scotland face this weekend, the team taking their bow in Croke Park with minds firmly focused on trying to uncover a more dangerous attack and tries, having drawn a blank in their opening two games. Scotland had lost to France and Wales and Simon Webster produced the breakthrough that Scots supporters had been waiting for when he finished off a great attack with a try 13 minutes into the second half, but Scotland were trailing 22-6 and three tries to nil at that point and Tommy Bowe wrapped it up with two more scores in the final quarter.