Scotland 7s head coach, Stephen Gemmel, and club coaches talk tactics

Rugby clubs gathered at Murrayfield last night (Wednesday 15 April) seeking the abbreviated edge as Scotland’s rugby 7s season gets into full swing.

With 7s tournaments taking place across the country, club representatives turned up for a high profile coaching update delivered by Scotland 7s Head Coach Stephen Gemmell, who presented on the key principles of attack and defence, and 7s as a tool for player development.

Gemmell then practiced what he preached on the all-new 3G synthetic pitch at Murrayfield Stadium with the help of the Scotland 7s team and National Academy players as they prepare for the final leg of the IRB World Series, the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival, at the home of Scottish Rugby on May 30 and 31.

Scotland 7s internationalist, Roddy Grant, in action at the coaching update

Gemmell said: “I hoped to give an insight into what the game of international 7s is all about and in particular highlight how it has developed over the last few years into a real technical, tactical and physical game for all those involved.

“7s is a fantastic development tool because individual skills are seriously tested and exposed – there are massive benefits for the players. Passing accuracy, decision making, and tackling are all put under the microscope and I think that these pressured one-on-one situations transfer directly into the XVs game.

“A single mistake in 7s often means you’re turned over, concede a score, or miss a try scoring opportunity.”

The updates are regularly attended by 30-40 club representatives who speak highly of the opportunity to meet and discuss coaching developments with some of the country’s top professional coaches.

Scottish Rugby’s Coach Development Officer, Graham Lindsay, said: “Through the UKCC courses we educate the coaches about the coaching process while these updates provide clubs with the developmental side of our coaching programme in a hands on way to give them new ideas and drills as well as an insight into current professional techniques.

“It’s important because it allows coaches to stay up to date with what’s going on, they can keep themselves fresh and bring professional methods and a professional attitude to club rugby.

Scotland 7s head coach, Stephen Gemmel, talks the club coaches through the moves

“Our National update programme is tailored to the needs of our clubs and can run on a number of technical and tactical aspects of the game including, back play, forward play, scrum, lineout, video analysis. There’s a lot of 7s being played throughout the country just now, it’s very current so works well extremely well as an update – especially when you have someone like Stephen [Gemmell] involved in the programme”

The abbreviated game has seen some of Scotland’s most exciting young talent come through the ranks in seasons past including Thom and Max Evans, Ben Cairns and Ross Rennie – and for those who saw Scotland’s opening 33-7 defeat of Australia and dramatic extra-time semi-final victory over Fiji at Murrayfield in the last Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival know that the current crop is every bit as thrilling.

In addition to the 200+ matches happening over the course of the weekend, the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival combines the elite 16 team tournament with a club and school 7s event on the all new back pitches – with some matches scheduled to be played in front of the Murrayfield crowd on the main pitch for the first time.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, Festivals and Events Champion for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: "We're delighted to be supporting Scottish Rugby for the feast of rugby events taking place in Edinburgh in May. Rugby is hugely popular in the city and I'm sure there will be a tremendous atmosphere for all those attending.

“Rugby month is yet another opportunity to raise Edinburgh's profile on the international sporting calendar. Of course, like the 6 Nations fixtures, these May events will also bring economic benefit to the city and hopefully encourage even more people to visit our beautiful city."

Scotland 7s and National Academy players take to the field

Teams represented at the update:
Haddington, Watsonians, Linlithgow, Murrayfield Wanderers, Montrose, Edinburgh Accies, Lasswade, Cargilfield School, St Thomas Aquin’s High School, Stirling County, Gala, Dunbar, Dunfermline, Balerno Community High School, Kinross High School, Hawick Wanderers under-18, Hawick, Kelso, Melrose, Hamilton, Waysiders Drumpellier, Boroughmuir, Whitecraigs, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes

• 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 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, Roseburn Street, Edinburgh (open 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday).
• Rugby Sevens will be one of the showpiece events of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
 
The Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s is just one of four major events happening at Murrayfield, the home of Scottish Rugby, in May

Scottish Rugby has worked extensively with event partners Event Scotland, Visit Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council, to fully promote the world-class events coming to Murrayfield to ensure that everybody attending is fully aware of what Edinburgh as a city has to offer both the resident and the visitor.
 
Event Scotland - www.eventscotland.org
• EventScotland is working to make Scotland one of the world’s leading event destinations. By developing an exciting portfolio of sporting and cultural events EventScotland is helping to raise Scotland’s international profile and boost the economy by attracting more visitors.

Visit Scotland – www.visitscotland.com
• VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
• The organisation has three key roles:
1. To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
2. To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
3. To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations

City of Edinburgh Council - www.edinburgh.gov.uk
- A capital like no other
450,000 people. One city. Countless opportunities.
• Edinburgh is known across the world as Scotland’s festival capital, business capital, and culture capital. The city is home to the Scottish Parliament and some of the most iconic landmarks on the planet. Nearly half a million people call the city home, and we serve each and every one of them, making sure the city is a great place to live, work and enjoy.
Edinburgh is a unique city, a vibrant city, a growing city, an evolving city. It’s a city that’s at the heart of Europe and the heart of a nation.