| SCOTS 7s PROGRESS TO HONG KONG PLATE COMPETITION |
| Saturday, 28 March 2009 | |
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Kenya 7s 31, Scotland 7s 7 The Scotland 7s team have made it through to the quarter-finals of the Plate competition having won two of their three Pool F matches at the IRB Sevens World Series event in Hong Kong today. The Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival is the eighth and final leg of the IRB Sevens World Series. It will be held at Murrayfield on 30 and 31 May 2009. Tickets for each day of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival - priced at £15 for adults, £10 for students and senior citizens and £5 for under 18s – are available to purchase by logging onto www.scottishrugbytickets.com, by calling the Ticket Hotline on 0131 346 5100 (open 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday) or in person from the Murrayfield Ticket Centre (open 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday). Last night’s 19-17 win over the USA was followed up this morning by a loss to the sixth best rugby sevens nation in the world, Kenya, and a win over the West Indies who pushed all three of their pool opponents right to the wire. In the first match of the day, Kenya soared to a 17-0 half-time lead. Two converted tries in quick succession after the break killed the game for Scotland, however, they continued to battle hard and scored a late try through Scott Riddell. His score was converted by Graham Hogg. The Scots then had just an hour and a half to both recover from such an intense battle, and prepare to meet the West Indies who had ran Kenya to within a converted try on day one. Scotland conceded an early try before Roddy Grant pulled them back. Calum MacRae added the extras to edge in front. Riddell crossed for his second try of the day and MacRae was once again accurate with the boot giving Scotland a 14-5 lead at half-time. Again the Scots gave away an early score, but Jim Thompson broke through to dot down moments later. A late try in the corner from the West Indies put them in a position to draw the game, but the difficult kick from out wide couldn’t convert the score. On the first encounter of the day, Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell said: “We are pretty disappointed with that performance. We came out very tentative and lacked real confidence. We didn’t perform to our level in attack or defence so were turned over in the contact too often.” Following Scotland’s third and final pool match, he added: “We took the nervousness from the Kenya match into the West Indies game. The preparation for this game was very tough as we only had about and hour and a half to recover from the first game and get ready for this one. “We were inconsistent about how we went about our business as we would score some good tries when the confidence and concentration was high. However, today’s performance was disappointing given last night’s result over the USA.” Scotland now await the remaining results of the day to find out their opponents in tomorrow’s knock out competition. Gemmell also feels he must buoy his squad ahead of a very important day of competition tomorrow. “We can’t play by sitting off teams. We can take confidence from the fact that we were seeded third in our pool and we have finished second. “Yes, we were disappointed with the manner in which we played today, but tomorrow we have the chance to prove what we are capable of. We are into the Plate competition and we just need to front up and play like we know we can.” Scotland 7s team v Kenya: Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Jamie Hunter (West of Scotland)*, Calum MacRae (Edinburgh), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors) Scotland 7s team v West Indies: Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Scott Riddell (Blaydon), Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Jamie Hunter (West of Scotland)*, Calum MacRae (Edinburgh), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors) Hong Kong Pool F: Kenya, USA, Scotland, West Indies Scotland 7s’ Pool F fixtures at the IRB Hong Kong Sevens (27-29 March): Scotland 7s squad (sponsor Murray) to compete at the IRB Sevens World Series events in Hong Kong (27-29 March) and Adelaide (3-5 April): Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Tom Bury (Boroughmuir)**, Alex Dunbar (Selkirk)*, Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Graham Hogg (Hawick)*, Jamie Hunter (West of Scotland)*, Chris Kinloch (Glasgow Warriors), Calum MacRae (Edinburgh), Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Riddell (Blaydon), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh) * = Member of Scottish Rugby’s Contracted National Academy |
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