Cusiter keen to break duck

Chris Cusiter has insisted breaking his RBS 6 Nations duck as Scotland captain would mean more to him than lifting the Calcutta Cup on Saturday.

Scrum-half Cusiter has presided over a hat-trick of Championship defeats since being handed the armband by new head coach Andy Robinson.

It means the 27-year-old is in real danger of becoming the third Scotland skipper to pick up the wooden spoon since the tournament expanded.

So he is understandably refusing to allow himself to dream of walking up the steps at Murrayfield to collect the trophy which could rescue his country's season.

'I haven't thought about it,' Cusiter told Press Association Sport.

'We haven't won yet in this championship and for us to take that next step and win is the biggest thing.

'It needs to be our best performance of the championship and that's what we aim to produce on Saturday.'

Cusiter feels exactly the same about leading Scotland out against England for the first time.

'I'll be a lot prouder if we were to get the win,' he added.

'We're under pressure, we've lost three games - two of which we feel we could've won.

'We know where we are in the championship, we know how much work we have to do and playing against England at home is as big as it gets.'

Previous Calcutta Cup clashes are littered with tales of rousing pre-match speeches from players and coaches, often bordering on the jingoistic.

But playing Braveheart is simply not Cusiter's style.

'I don't think anything I can say will get someone up for a game if they're not up for it,' said the Glasgow star, who will earn his 51st cap this weekend and fifth against England.

'But I can guarantee that the boys are excited about this, we're desperate to go out there and make amends for losing the first three games.'

England have also failed to set the tournament alight this season, despite having won two of their three matches.

But Cusiter was not about to fall into the trap of criticising Saturday's opponents.

'They've been world champions in the past and that's the scale of challenge that we face,' he said.

'But we've had some success in the past against them up at Murrayfield.'

Indeed, Scotland are looking to complete a hat-trick of Murrayfield victories against the Auld Enemy.

And on paper, the sides are far more evenly matched than they have been on England's previous visits to Edinburgh.

The key to Scotland's victories in 2006 and 2008 was winning the forward battle.

But with England's backs misfiring at present, they are likely to focus even more of their energy up front this weekend.

Cusiter, who came off the bench in 2006, said: 'There's a baseline of physicality which you need to compete against England and the pack have got a massive job to compete at the set-piece and to get us that ball.'

Winning ball was not a problem for Scotland in the defeats to Wales and Italy - it was what they then did with it that cost them.

Cusiter said: 'We're comfortable with the style of rugby that we're trying to play but ultimately we haven't been able to win the games.

'We've been creating a lot of things, we've put ourselves in the right positions, and we just haven't quite been clinical enough.

'We have to get ourselves in the position to win the game, first and foremost - as we have been in this championship - and then go on and do it.

'That takes an extra bit of concentration, just a bit more focus on finishing off our good work.'