Captaincy joy for Cusiter

Scrum-half savours first start in leading role

By Rachel Griffiths   Last updated: 15th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Captaincy joy for Cusiter

Cusiter: First start as captain

It was a great experience, great for my family and I'd really love to continue this

Chris Cusiter
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Chris Cusiter admitted it was an "emotional" experience captaining Scotland to a 23-10 win over Fiji.

The Glasgow scrum-half, who was also making his first Test start since the 2007 World Cup, felt nervous in the build up to the game.

However his team-mates made sure he enjoyed a winning start in the job, thanks to tries from Johnnie Beattie and Graeme Morrison and 13 points from the boot of Phil Godman.

"I loved it; it was a really emotional day," said Cusiter after winning his 45th cap for his country.

"For two weeks, I've been building up to it and it's been at the front of my mind. I haven't been able to relax as much as I'd have liked so it was good to get on the pitch.

"It was a great experience, great for my family and I'd really love to continue this."

Doubts

Cusiter expressed doubts about how the home side performed under his leadership as they failed to use their forward dominance to achieve a greater margin of victory.

"In the first half when we got into our stride, I thought we were playing some really good rugby," he said.

"We were playing at a really good pace and tempo, which was creating a lot of gaps for us.

"We scored a try, Rory Lamont came very close to scoring off a set piece and we were in control of the game.

"The frustration would probably come in the second half when we turned over too much ball to really get into our rhythm.

"We wanted to come out in the second half and impose ourselves and it took a while for us to get there."

Despite his mixed feelings, Cusiter admitted there was no denying the effort the team had put in.

"In terms of the physicality and the effort of the players, there's no question that was present," he added. "I could feel behind it that the intensity was there."