Davies left for Gloucester after a lengthy career in Llanelli but new boss Simon Easterby and his assistant Mark Jones have both enjoyed equally illustrious connections with the Scarlets.
Easterby and Jones were already on the coaching staff under Davies having both previously captained the region during stellar careers that spanned a combined total of 24 years with Llanelli and the Scarlets.
And now the man following in their footsteps by picking up the captain’s armband is hoping their passion for the side will help the Scarlets push on and reach their obvious potential.
“There’s not been too much of a change really,” said McCusker, who made his league debut for the Scarlets in a side skippered by Easterby back in 2007.
“Simon’s been here for a while as a coach and as a player before that and he ran the defence last year.
“With Mark Jones there as well it’s been pretty consistent, although obviously we’ve brought Danny Wilson in and that’s brought a new focus to the forwards and the setpiece.
“It definitely helps. Simon and Mark are Scarlet through and through. They’ve both captained the team and they know all about the history of the club and the way we traditionally play, and we’ll be sticking to that.”
The Scarlets finished fifth in the RaboDirect PRO12 last term, missing out on a semi-final spot by just three points after 12 wins and two draws in 22 league games.
Huge Heineken Cup victories at Northampton and Castres were the highlights of their European campaign, while their LV= Cup efforts saw them fall just short of a first finals appearance of any description for six seasons.
McCusker feels progress has certainly been made at the Scarlets but now he insists it’s time to perform more consistently on the big stage and to celebrate picking up some silverware next spring.
“Since the likes of Mark and Simon played we’ve had a bit of a transition with younger players coming through. We narrowly missed out on the play-off places in the league so we’ll be pushing hard for that this year,” added the 26-year-old.
“We’ll be looking to get the club back up to the dizzy heights of European rugby where it should be and perhaps hasn’t been for the past couple of years.
“Brad Harrington, our strength and conditioning coach, said the other day that we haven’t won a knockout game for four years and that’s disappointing when you look at it from that angle.
“But the more we play those kind of big games, the more likely we are to win. Hopefully we can be challenging for trophies this year.”
