By Chris Cusiter Scotland scrum-half

Don't tell anyone but we're secretly rooting for the auld enemy England against New Zealand on Saturday.

We need those All Blacks softening up for when we play them next week.

That game will be the ultimate challenge but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We lost to Argentina and that was a big blow, so we've really got to win against Samoa on Sunday.

Cusiter back for Scotland

We need to continue the kind of rugby we played against the Pumas but perfect a winning mentality to give us a bit of confidence and prove we're going in the right direction.

It will be hugely physical against Samoa - a different type of physicality to Argentina.

The Pumas are renown for scrummaging and mauling, whereas the Samoans love trying to put in the big hits all over the field - it's part of their culture.

If you're not accurate in your presentation and protection of the ball, it can be a long day because all of a sudden you've been turned over and you're defending when you should be attacking.

SCOTLAND TRAINING WEEK Sunday: Recovery session am; afternoon off Monday: Weights, video feedback, massage & recovery Tuesday: Speed session, pool recovery, training game Wednesday: Double rugby session am and pm Thursday: Rugby session am; afternoon off Friday: Day off Saturday: Reconvene for captain's run Sunday: Beat Samoa - hopefully! NB video analysis of opposition is ongoing throughout week

But it's not all about big hits. Samoa have got some really talented guys and very quick backs who are really tough to defend against. They're great sidesteppers and have got good experience all over the world.

If they can get their game going, they'll be very dangerous.

I'm back in the side this week and I'm really grateful for the opportunity.

There's huge competition between Mike Blair and myself, but I feel I deserve the chance.

Having toured with the Lions, it was tough to take being left out and was probably the first time in my professional career it had happened to me.

Scotland's Sean Lamont impressed against Argentina

I realise different opportunities come with a new coach and you have to impress all over again.

But I dealt with it philosophically and felt my chance would come. Importantly, I've been really enthusiastic in training.

Scotland 19-23 Argentina

We let victory slip from our grasp against Argentina which was extremely frustrating. Having led for the whole match we gave away a late penalty try and had no time to come back.

The harsh lesson we learned - and all teams go through this - is that we need to be more clinical and finish off more of the half-chances we get.

At international level, opportunities to score are much rarer than at club level and the other team will always come back at some stage.

So when we do get good momentum and get deep into their half, we've got to take the points.

It's about putting the game out of reach of the opposition. We didn't do it against Argentina but let's hope we learn from that. The All Blacks have.