Samoa 12, Scotland 14

It was another historic afternoon for Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell as his side posted their first win over Samoa during his three year tenure.

The Scots overturned a 12-0 half time deposit to snub Samoa’s Cup chances and book themselves their second ever Cup semi-final place in the space of two weeks.

Scotland will now face newly crowned World Series champions South Africa, at 4:13pm.

Amidst the post-match congratulations from the Murrayfield crowd, Gemmell said: “You don’t beat quality teams very often and we’ve had a few hidings from Samoa over the years.

“There’s no better to get that win than here at Murrayfield and it’s all credit to the players. In the past we’d maybe have fallen off but there’s real belief in that dressing room and that’s mixed with a ‘never say die’ attitude and some quality rugby players.

“To play and score in the manner that they did at the end speaks volumes for the players.”

The Scots would now love to reach their first ever Cup final, and with Murrayfield filling up throughout the day, Gemmell believes that the crowd is the biggest weapon in their armoury.

“I think the thing that’ll help us get over the line now is the crowd who have been magnificent. With fifty seconds to go and you hear ‘Scotland’ being chanted from the stands is an unbelievable feeling and the players just dug deep.

Samoa controlled the early stages of the game with Uale Mai racing to the line after they exposed an obvious shortage of numbers on the Scots flank. Morgan Salesa could not add the extras from the touchline.

Scotland began to mount attacks of their own with Sean Lamont powering up the touch line, however the final pass went amiss. Minutes later Greig Laidlaw released Lamont for a certain score, but that decisive pass was deemed to have been forward.

Scotland then slipped even further behind as a simple inside pass was all it took to release Alafoti Fa’osiliva who burned to the line. Salesa converted to give the South Sea Islanders a convincing lead.

Half-time score: Samoa 12, Scotland 0

If it was all Samoa in the first half, then no-one would challenge that it was all Scotland in the second.

Good physicality at the contact area from Lamont gave Houston a glimpse of the line. A sharp cut back inside beat the defence and he dived over to get Scotland onto the score-sheet. Colin Gregor converted.

With zero seconds on the clock it was again Houston whose thunderous running style sent him over the line to level the scores before Gregor, with nerves of steel, slotted the winning conversion on his 28th birthday.

Full-time score: Samoa 12, Scotland 14

Scotland starting team v Samoa: 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)

Samoa starting team v Scotland: Alafoti Fa’osiliva, Levi Asifa’amatala, Uale Mai, Lolo Lui, Reupena Levasa, Mikaele Pessamino, Morgan Salesa

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