Scotland 7s Singapore Report and Reaction

15 Apr 2019

Scotland 7s reached their second consecutive Challenge Trophy Final in at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Singapore Tournament but were denied a third trophy win of the season by a last-minute French try in the Final.

Max McFarland scored 9 tries in total across the weekend, enough to see him named in the HSBC Singapore 7s Dream Team.

John Dalziel’s men were drawn in a challenging group alongside reigning World Series Champions South Africa, Hong Kong Champions the weekend before Fiji and a strong Canadian side.

Scotland were competitive for the first half against the Blitzboks, McFarland scoring a double to make the scores tight at the break, but the eventual tournament winners pulled away in the second 7 to win 10-36.

Next up were high-flying Fiji and Scotland produced one of their performances of the season to date to record an impressive win.

Another McFarland brace plus a score from Glenn Bryce saw the Scots beat the Olympic Champions 19-12.

Sevens stars make up your @HSBC_Sport Dream Team after a brilliant #HSBC7s in Singapore #Singapore7s pic.twitter.com/kZwL9hUtRs

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) April 14, 2019

However, they failed to reach the same heights in their final pool game against the Canadians. Scores from Jamie Farndale and Sam Pecqueur not enough in a 10-33 defeat.

Scotland looked replenished as they kicked off day 2 with a Trophy Quarter Final against Spain. Again, McFarland scored twice with Farndale also notching a brace. Pecqueur and Gavin Lowe also got in on the scoring in an impressive 38-10 victory.

They continued their good form into their semi-final against Wales. Again, McFarland scored twice as did Lowe. Jo Nayacavou’s first try of the weekend secured a dominant 33-12 victory to send the Scots to back to back trophy finals.

However, the final against France proved one step too far for Scotland. McFarland’s ninth try of the weekend plus scores for each of the co-captains weren’t enough as France touched down in the dying moments to snatch a 19-22 victory.

“I thought we played some really exciting and expansive 7s over two of the toughest and demanding weekends on the series.”
John Dalziel

Scotland 7s Head Coach John Dalziel said: “I thought we played some really exciting and expansive 7s over two of the toughest and demanding weekends on the series.

“Max McFarland had a fantastic tournament and was one of many top performers over the weekend for us, getting on the end of some great play.

“We are left excited by the progress being made by our youngsters and after already exceeding last year’s points total we are very much looking forward to the last two legs of what has been a very demanding season given the Olympic qualification and raise in standard we are experiencing.”