Christopher Peter Cusiter (born 13 June 1982) is a retired Scottish international rugby union player who played at scrum-half. He played for teams including Glasgow Warriors,

Border Reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

and

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

before ending his career at

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

International career

Cusiter made his first start for Scotland in the

2004 Six Nations The 2004 Six Nations Championship was the fifth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Overall, this was the 110th series of the international championship. Match wi ...

match against Wales. During 2005 and 2006 Cusiter suffered a series of injuries representing Scotland. In 2015 he sustained a knee injury against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and upon his starting return against Italy in the

2006 Six Nations The 2006 Six Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this ...

suffered a pectoral injury. After making a substitute appearance against Romania in the 2006 Autumn tests he was given the all clear to start against the Pacific Islanders only to be stretchered off after 10 minutes. Cusiter was named as joint-captain Captain along with

Mike Blair Michael Robert Leighton Blair (born 20 April 1981) is a Scottish rugby union coach who was formerly a professional player. He is the head coach of Edinburgh. He played at scrum-half for Glasgow Warriors, Newcastle Falcons, CA Brive and Edin ...

for the Autumn internationals of 2009 and the

2010 Six Nations Championship The 2010 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2010 RBS 6 Nations due to sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 11th series of the Six Nations Championship and the 116th international championship, an annual rugby union competition be ...

. Cusiter went on the

2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Mao ...

making one appearance as a substitute against Argentina.

Club career

While still at

Watsonians Watsonian Football Club is a rugby union club based in Edinburgh and part of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is connected with George Watson's College as a club for former pupils, and changed its policy in the 1980s to be a fully open club, ...

, Cusiter was called into the Glasgow Warriors side in the 2001–02 season. At the end of the season he had a number of games warming the bench, before making his professional debut coming on in the 79th minute against Swansea RFC in the Welsh-Scottish League in Glasgow's last game of the season. At the season end he moved back to

, but secured another professional club in 2003 when he signed for

. The Borders side folded in 2007 and Cusiter moved to play in France. On 18 April 2007, it was announced that Cusiter would sign for the French side

. On 27 January 2009 Cusiter moved back to Scotland, securing a deal to play with Glasgow Warriors once again; this time on a three-year contract. His contract was extended and he played with Glasgow till the end of the 2013–14 season. For the following season 2014–15, he moved to the English Aviva Premiership side,

. Cusiter announced his retirement from rugby in May 2016.

Personal

His brother

Calum Calum is a given name. It is a variation of the name Callum, which is a Scottish Gaelic name that commemorates the Latin name Columba, meaning "dove". It may refer to: * Calum Angus (born 1986), English footballer *Calum Best (born 1981), British/ ...

was also an international Rugby player representing the Scotland 7s team. Cusiter is a self-confessed fan of rugby league, following the Catalans Dragons after his two-year spell in

. Originally from Aberdeen, he attended

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational Independent school (UK) for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th century ...

and studied law at the University of Edinburgh. Following his retirement moved to California to set up a whisky-focused alcohol retail business.

References

External links

Scotland profile

Chris Cusiter on Sporting Heroes

Chris Cusiter on BBC Sport
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusiter, Chris 1982 births Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Border Reivers players Boroughmuir RFC players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Glasgow Warriors players People educated at Robert Gordon's College Rugby union players from Aberdeen Rugby union scrum-halves Sale Sharks players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players USA Perpignan players Watsonians RFC players