Former Scotland captain Chris Cusiter’s involvement in the Rugby World Cup is in serious doubt after it was revealed the 70-times capped British Lion has still not joined the pre-tournament training camp.
The 33-year-old Aberdonian has taken no part in the two main phases of work this summer despite being selected as one of four scrum-halves in Vern Cotter’s larger RWC squad back in June. He missed the 10 day altitude training trip to the Pyrenees and has still not reported for the preparations for the four warm-up games, starting with Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
The official word from Murrayfield yesterday is that Cusiter had requested and been granted time to be with his wife and newborn child and is still under consideration to be selected.
“The Scotland national team have respected the wishes of Chris, who requested to be absent during this summer’s Rugby World Cup preparations at BT Murrayfield following the arrival of his first child,” said a spokesman. “Chris has continued his pre-season conditioning with his club Sale Sharks and remains available for selection to the national team.”
It’s understood that Cusiter has been undertaking a full pre-season with the Sharks and is not injured. It’s also believed that neither the player not the Scotland management team considers his international career to be over.
However having missed the bulk of the preparations with Cotter and his management team introducing several new aspects of the gameplan whilst also undergoing their own conditioning and strength-training programme, it seems increasingly unlikely the most experienced of Scotland’s scrum-half options can be a part of the tournament squad proper when it is announced on September 1.
Cusiter last played for Scotland as a replacement in their last win, against Tonga at Kilmarnock last November. He did not play in the Six Nations with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne preferred as captain Greig Laidlaw’s back-up and spent only a week in camp as cover when Hidalgo-Clyne was suffering from a suspected concussion after the loss to Wales in February.