Six Nations 2010: Scotland captain Chris Cusiter maintains his focus on Italy

By Alasdair Reid Published: 7:00AM GMT twenty-four February 2010

On the run: Scotland captain Chris Cusiter creates a mangle opposite France Photo: REUTERS

No, heading Scotland out opposite Italy in the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday is all about removing this year"s Six Nations debate off the mark, and zero to do with Cusiter"s personal back-catalogue of set-back in the fixture.

So no thoughts about the infamous flesh rip that finished his impasse in the 2006 compare after usually a couple of minutes; and no speak of the dual intercepted passes he threw at Murrayfield the following year.

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"My concentration is on removing a win for Scotland," says the 27-year-old, who will win his 50th top in Rome. "I"m focused on this week. I"m gratified with the approach I"ve been personification and I plan to put in a big performance, as do all of the boys on Saturday. Things that have happened in the past have no temperament on this game."

Actually, the story that competence have weighed down on Cusiter is not all of the really old variety. The majority critical mental recall to erase is the majority new that startling compare in the Millennium Stadium less than dual weeks ago, when Scotland"s 24-14 lead became a 31-24 improved at the last alarm after five mins of mayhem and a Welsh quip that can be counted between the biggest the diversion has ever seen.

After the earthy and mental battering he and his team-mates endured, Cusiter admits that the chilling headlines of the abhorrence neck damage suffered by Thom Evans at slightest brought a little viewpoint to the pallid Scotland sauce room.

"There are things that are some-more critical than a rugby match, however most it equates to to us," he says quietly.

Cusiter had last week off "I don"t think "holiday" is the right word" prior to clocking behind in at Murrayfield on Sunday to proceed the rave to the Italy game. The initial pursuit to get out of the approach was the examination of what happened opposite Wales, but it was a mercifully short post-mortem.

"It was a normal debrief," he explains. "As we regularly do, we looked at the things we did well and the things we need to work on. We looked at the last five minutes, the decisions that were made. We have to sense from that and turn improved players and improved leaders.

"I don"t think we"ll ever come in to just the same incident again, but there are sure tools that we can really sense lessons from. We"ve oral with Andy [Robinson, the Scotland coach] about assorted situations, doing opposite things in opposite ways and handling that duration of time differently. If we"re going to urge afterwards we have to sense those lessons."

In their waste to Ireland and England over the past 3 weeks, Italy have since no spirit that they are able of relating the assault Wales constructed opposite Scotland in Cardiff.

However, they have shown that they can be a fiendishly ungainly side in alternative ways, bleak and mortal and splendidly in effect at negligence down antithesis ball.

England became bogged down in that kind of diversion when they were in Rome, but Cusiter is dynamic that Scotland should not tumble in to the same trap.

"We don"t wish to get dragged in to an arm wrestle," he explains. "The teams that have finished that have struggled opposite them. They are really physical, really clever defensively, and if the round slows down at all it"s really formidable to do anything.

"We watched the England diversion and saw how they played. They finished a series of line breaks when they proposed to enlarge the pace. Italy"s hasten counterclaim is really great so they usually managed to finish one of them off, but really couple of teams will kick them in an arm wrestle.

"They"re a really plain team. Their counterclaim is really great and they don"t miss most tackles. In and around the ruck is a genuine clever point for them with the front five they have. It"s not space station scholarship that we don"t wish to encounter them head-on in there.

"It"s about commanding the diversion on them. The approach we"ve played in this championship so far, we"ve won discerning ball, attempted to move it around and get the big runners in to the game. That has worked for us well, and we got dual great tries opposite Wales that way. That"s how we will try to play."