Cusiter: Scots will move on after Wales defeat

Chris Cusiter today insisted every Scotland player who made mistakes in the incredible RBS 6 Nations defeat by Wales had taken their share of the blame - including himself.

Replacement hooker Scott Lawson took much of the flak for the last-gasp loss after his sin-binning started a chain reaction that saw the visitors throw away what had appeared a certain victory.

The Gloucester player has reportedly phoned the management staff and his team-mates since the match 10 days ago to apologise for his costly lack of discipline.

And captain Cusiter revealed Lawson was not the only one to admit to letting the side down.

“I don’t think anyone shirks that responsibility,” the scrum-half told Press Association Sport.

“The guys who made mistakes know who they are.

“A lot of us made mistakes – I’ll hold my hand up as well.

“We’ve got to learn from it and not make those mistakes again.”

The sheer madness of the final 10 minutes in Cardiff made it difficult at the time to dissect all that went wrong, as Wales scored 17 unanswered points to register a 31-24 triumph.

But key moments have been replayed enough times since for a thorough post-mortem to be conducted.

Cusiter said: “We’ve looked at that, we’re moving on, but we certainly won’t forget those lessons.”

The Glasgow star believes the Wales defeat may have been the most painful of his career.

“I think it possibly was,” he said.

“To be in that situation – 10 points up with five minutes to go – and then to lose like we did was heartbreaking.”

Scotland will use the pain of that defeat as motivation when they face Italy in Rome in their third Six Nations game on Saturday.

But they will also take heart from a performance for the first 70 minutes that was arguably their best for a number of years.

Cusiter, 27, said: “The things that went wrong, we have to learn from; but, equally, the things that went well, we’ve got to keep on doing.

“That was the best we’ve attacked for quite a while now so we’ve got to continue in that vein and look to cause Italy problems.”

He added: “That means these little errors that we made last weekend, we can’t afford to make them again.”

Doing so would mean three defeats out of three and make Scotland odds-on favourites for the Wooden Spoon.

Italy have targeted this weekend’s opponents as their most likely Six Nations scalp ever since joining the tournament in 2000.

And they have enjoyed plenty of success, winning four of the 10 meetings, including three of five at home.

“It’s just a huge game in terms of the championship and the Scotland-Italy history,” said Cusiter, who watched the Azzurri come agonisingly close to a historic victory over England nine days ago.

“They’re a tough team to break down, no doubt about that.

“Particularly playing at home, they’re a very, very proud team.

“It’s a huge challenge for us to go over there, as big as any we’ll face in the Six Nations.”

England almost came unstuck trying to boot Italy into submission but Scotland will try to emulate the more balanced attacking display they showed against Wales.

Cusiter added: “Their defence is very strong, very well organised, and we’re going to need to get that quick ball if we’re going to cause them problems.”

The game at the Stadio Flaminio sees Cusiter win his 50th cap but he insisted leading his country out for the landmark occasion would mean little if Scotland are beaten.

He also backed Max Evans, Hugo Southwell and Simon Danielli to fill the void left by the tournament-ending injuries to Thom Evans, Chris Paterson and Rory Lamont.

He added: “We’ve got a job to do on Saturday and those guys will come in and do a good job for us.”