Pool C, Game 3: Canada 5, Scotland 26
Pool C, Game 2: Kenya 22, Scotland 17
Pool C, Game 1: England 17, Scotland 33

Colin Shaw coasts in for his second and Scotland's fourth

Scotland produced an assured performance to march onward into the Cup quarter-finals of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival at Murrayfield with victories over England and Canada.

Afterwards, a delighted head coach Stephen Gemmell praised the work-rate of his side and spoke of the delight of reaching the knock-out stages of the top competition.

“It’s mission accomplished in terms of today,” he said. “The main thing is we secured a place in the Cup quarter-finals.

“There’s now eight teams in there with the opportunity to put their name on the Ned Haig Cup and we’re one of them.

“It was a real team performance from us. Twelve players played their part today and that’s the beauty for me as a coach. It’s much easier when you’ve got these 12 guys that can interchange.

“We will be better again tomorrow having played today and we’ll have the chance to review our performances tonight.”

John Houston burns through against England

Pool C, Game 1: England 17, Scotland 33
Scotland took to the field for their first game against England in soaring temperatures and scorched their way to a second ever victory over their cross border rivals.

Scotland’s only previous victory over England came in the Plate final of the Wellington Sevens in 2005 where they won by just two points.

Therefore, today’s win made it their best ever win over the Auld Enemy.

The first of Scotland’s five tries came from Edinburgh centre John Houston.

Newcomer to the squad, Scotland internationalist Sean Lamont, gave the visitors real problems in the contact area as he soaked up the English defence on the right flank before the ball was worked back to Houston. Glasgow Warriors scrum-half/stand-off Colin Gregor converted.

Scotland then retained possession effectively as England struggled to get out of their own half. A cross-field kick from Gregor found Greig Laidlaw who passed inside to Ally Hogg who made good territory.

Hogg popped the ball back inside to Laidlaw who burned his way to the line. Gregor converted.

A third Scottish try sent the Scotland fans at Murrayfield into fever pitch.

Hogg stayed big in the contact to control England’s attempt to turnover ball. Sean Lamont came looking, and duly received from the breakdown to burst through to the try line. Gregor converted.

Scotland’s defence held firm until the dying seconds of the first half.

It was eventually broken when England worked an overlap on the right touchline. Ollie Phillips sent a wide pass to James Rodwell who crossed in the corner. Ben Gollings failed to convert.

After the break, England made their way back into contention, crossing twice in the opening exchanges.

Straight from kick-off, England fired a simple ball out wide to Uche Odouza who bolted up the left wing. The covering tackle from Lamont was too late.

Scotland were briefly back in English territory, however, fatigue started to creep into their game as a quick penalty inside their own half exposed a slowly retreating defence which Gollings exploited. He converted his own score.

With only four points between the two sides, Gemmell replaced Hogg and Lamont to bring on the fresh legs of Colin Shaw and Andrew Turnbull.

Their injection into the game brought around an extra edge that Scotland had begun to lose in the second period.

The decision to make changes paid off when Roddy Grant crashed his way through the England defence. He came out the other side and touched down between the posts. Gregor converted.

It was left to Turnbull to seal the game off for the Scots, as he had sealed the Cup semi-final place last weekend, with a late try against Portugal.

A confident Gregor bravely kicked a penalty into touch instead of going for points and it proved to be right decision. Scotland won their own lineout ball and threw ball wide to Turnbull who crossed the whitewash.

After the final whistle, Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell spoke of his desire to emulate that performance later in the day: “We said it was a key game for us but probably the most important game for us is the next one coming up.

“It’s a strange thing to say as a coach but the England game would always take care of itself because of the nature of the game. It’s at Murrayfield with the hype and everything that goes along with it.

“The thing for me is those boys played with real confidence. It wasn’t a nervy performance and it wasn’t a static performance.

“We dug deep at times because we had to but I just think that the quality of rugby we played has really put a marker down for us in this tournament but it counts for nothing if we don’t get this next game right.”

Hefin O'Hare makes sure he is unstoppable against Kenya

Pool C, Game 2: Kenya 22, Scotland 17
Scotland couldn’t quite maintain the intensity of their win over England earlier today as they were narrowly beaten by Kenya on day one of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival.

Afterwards, Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell said: “Our work rate wasn’t as high as it should’ve been off the ball rather than on the ball. We didn’t fill in enough in defensively and we didn’t support enough in terms of attack.

“The players know what our game is built on and we just floated in and out of our game there. Kenya are a quality side and we’re not going to take anything away from them.

“We’ve just got to hope they do us a favour against England and we really turn things up against Canada.

“The crowd were magnificent again, they make a massive difference.”

Sean Lamont again proved to be a significant threat to the opposition. Early in the first half, he took on his opposite man and burst up the left wing. He was brought down inches from the line but managed to offload to Roddy Grant. The flanker then planted his feet to stave off any Kenyan tackles and eventually burst through the defence to stretch over.

Scotland’s defence then started to weaken. Kenya worked the ball left and Lavin Asego took an inside pop to cross the line. Despite having the chance to score himself, an unselfish Asego passed to Collins Injera who touched down between the posts to make the conversion easier. Asego added the two points.

No-one seemed to be able to bring Grant to the floor as he made yet another spectacular break. He burst through the smallest of gaps in midfield and bumped off Gibson Weru Kahuthia to get a free run to the line.

Kenya then fought back, and levelled the score, as Victor Oduor slipped through Scotland’s drift defence. He was hauled down by Colin Gregor but managed to ground ball over the line.

Just before the break, Ally Hogg deliberately knocked forward a Kenyan pass and was sent to the sin bin for his efforts.

Down to six men, Scotland conceded a valuable try.

Some simple, yet effective, interplay between Injera and Allan Onyango sent Onyango across the whitewash to give Kenya a five point advantage at half time.

In the second half, Hogg made his return from the sin bin and made an immediate impact as he soaked in three defenders. He offloaded to Hefin O’Hare who slid over the line to bring both sides back to levels terms.

However, the decisive score came from the Kenyans as a kick ahead was collected. Colin Gregor made what seemed to be a try saving tackle, but with Kayange in support, the move was completed.

Roddy Grant revels in the contact against Canada

Pool C, Game 3: Canada 5, Scotland 26
Star of the day, Roddy Grant got Scotland off to the best possible start against Canada, scoring the only try of the first half.

Mike Adamson stepped inside Neil Meechan but was brought down by Kyle Buckley. From the breakdown, the ball was sent out to Roddy Grant who touched down between posts. Colin Gregor converted.

Adamson was again on the charge as he headed up the right wing. His pass inside found Canadian hands, but Gregor turned over ball at the breakdown and Ally Hogg ran in from around 40 yards. Gregor converted.

Canada replied straight away and mounted an attack from deep inside their own half. Justin Mensah-Coker was the main threat as he made significant ground before sending the ball through the hands of Ian Shoults to reach Buckley who dived over the line.

A double from Glasgow Warriors winger Colin Shaw sealed the decisive victory.

Hogg collected the restart and Shaw was right on his shoulder in support. The Edinburgh back-row offloaded to the Glasgow flyer who ran in from half-way to touch down in the corner unchallenged.

Grant was again a devil at the breakdown, turning over in a relentless hunt for possession.

Greig Laidlaw seared up the left wing and passed back inside to Shaw to ensure ball made it over the line. It did and Shaw grounded it in the shadow of the north stand posts. Jim Thompson added the conversion.

Scotland starting team v England: Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Lamont (Northampton)

England starting team v Scotland: Tom Biggs, Rob Vickerman, James Rodwell, Ollie Phillips, Kevin Barrett, Ben Gollings, Chris Cracknell

Scotland starting team v Kenya: Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Lamont (Northampton)

Kenya starting team v Scotland: Victor Oduor, Allan Onyango, Humphrey Kayange, Biko Adema, Gibson Weru Kahuthia, Lavin Asego, Collins Injera

Scotland starting team v Canada: Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Lamont (Northampton)

Canada starting team v Scotland: James Buchanan, Neil Meechan, Sean White, Bryn Keys, Justin Mensah-Coker, Tony La Carte, Kyle Buckley

Scotland 7s squad to compete at the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival (30 and 31 May): Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Sean Lamont (Northampton), Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors), Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh)

* = Member of Scottish Rugby’s Contracted National Academy

Edinburgh Pool C: Kenya, England, Canada, Scotland

Scotland 7s’ Pool C fixtures on day one (Saturday 30 May) of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival: England v Scotland (kick-off 12.09pm), Kenya v Scotland (3.13pm), Canada v Scotland (6.56pm)