Despites Scotlands own forwards being well below-par against Ireland, Cusiter is confident that they have addressed any areas of concern, and are ready to register their first win in this years RBS 6 Nations.

He said: "We started off very well and we got the initial nudge on the Irish and pushed them back a few metres but just relaxed a bit and thought maybe that was the work done.

"But they were savvy enough to get reset and started going again and once they got it going it was very hard to stop.

"We had meetings last week and it has been addressed. We recognise that Italy's strength is their pack so we have done the work and we have to try and nullify it.

"But we have always played our best rugby when we concentrate on our own game plan and not concentrate too much on the opposition.

"They can be quite a frustrating team to play against, they slow down the ball and stop you playing rugby and if you do that then you will play into their hands. So we can't give them a chance to impose their game on us,'' he added.