Chris Cusiter Scotland scrum-half

It was disappointing to lose to Ireland at the weekend but at least we are in the mix this season.

When you lose the first two or three games, which we have done in the recent past, you are at the foot of the table attempting to avoid the Wooden Spoon.

So to be involved in what some people said was the 'semi-finals' this weekend, was fantastic. Winning the Calcutta Cup was great and being in with a chance of the title has been brilliant.

But the campaign is not over for us. We have not won on the road yet and the trip to Italy gives us something to aim for, even if the title is now a very long shot.

Scotland found the going hard in the gloom of Dublin

Certainly we were very disappointed in the way we played in Wales and with the defeat in Dublin, but we have a chance to finish the championship on a high.

It will be a huge challenge in Rome as Italy drew with Wales and will be full of confidence.

It could well be one of the toughest games of the season, where our defence is going to have to better than it has been so far.

We had high hopes against Ireland, but I'm afraid it just wasn't to be.

That was a very good Ireland team we came up against although we were right in the game until the final whistle.

What disappointed us the most is that we didn't fire too many shots in attack ourselves.

We defended really well from start to finish, which has been the theme for us throughout the championship.

We still had a lot to offer in attack, but through a combination of factors , including the abysmal weather, we were not really able to do what we wanted.

Not scoring any tries was probably the most disappointing aspect of the game for us but Ireland didn't score any either, so that is certainly something to take out of the game.

Ireland played some really smart rugby. They have some good players who were very, very streetwise.

I'll just keep my head down, do my bit from the bench and hopefully take my chance when it comes

Players like David Wallace did the right things in the right places and they had Ronan O'Gara kicking superbly to the corners.

I would also give them credit for trying to play some rugby as well, but when it came to the crunch, they did the basics well.

The second half in particular was very difficult for us, we just couldn't get out of our half.

It was even worse with the wind and rain in our faces. We were six points down and having to attack from deep but it was very hard to score a try from there in those conditions.

I will just have to be patient in my battle for Scotland's number nine jersey.

Mike Blair and myself have been contesting it for nearly three seasons now. I had it last season, now Mike has it and the battle is likely to go on for a while yet.

I'll just keep my head down, do my bit from the bench and hopefully take my chance when it comes, which will hopefully not be too far away.