Scotland will face Namibia in the quarter-final of the South Africa 7s Bowl after finishing third in Pool A today. The Scots got their day-one campaign off to a good start with an impressive (21-12) win over France but were ultimately undone by Dubai 7s Plate semi-finalists Wales and finalists Australia. Having knocked the French out of the Bowl quarter-final in the Dubai 7s last weekend (28-22), the opener was lined up to be a hard-fought affair, but tries from Michael Fedo and a brace from James Fleming were enough to seal out the tie. Scotland will face Namibia in the quarter-final of the South Africa 7s Bowl after finishing third in Pool A today. The Scots got their day-one campaign off to a good start with an impressive (21-12) win over France but were ultimately undone by Dubai 7s Plate semi-finalists Wales and finalists Australia. Having knocked the French out of the Bowl quarter-final in the Dubai 7s last weekend (28-22), the opener was lined up to be a hard-fought affair, but tries from Michael Fedo and a brace from James Fleming were enough to seal out the tie. Despite the positive start, the match one win was Scotland’s last of day, losing in tense and winnable encounters with Wales (19-7) and Australia (21-7) in matches two and three.  Scotland 7s head coach, Graham Shiel, said: “These young players have stood up to a very tough international environment and gained some valuable experience but, at the moment, the overriding feeling is one of disappointment in that we haven’t come away with two wins – which is testimony to the way the players have performed against very strong sevens teams. “Today’s results have underlined that the margin between errors and points in international sevens is very slim.” First-half scores from Richard Pugh and Ifan Evans meant that Wales were clearly in the driving seat at the break in game two, with Rhys Jones’ single conversion giving them a 12-0 cushion at half-time however the resilience of the Scotland 7s team has been evident in recent times and a score from Ross Samson (converted by Skeen) put the Welshmen under clear pressure as the minutes wore on deep into added time (12-7).  Unfortunately it was Wales’ Tom Isaacs who got the crucial score, two minutes after the siren, to win the game. In the final match of the day, the Scots took on Commonwealth Games silver medallists Australia and, with some gritty attacking and defensive play, kept the Aussies in line until the end of the half when their efforts were undone by two late scores from Johnathon Lance (6’30) and Gregory Jeloudev (7’48), both of which were converted by Hamish Angus. Battling back against the Aussies was always going to be a challenge for the young team – a point that was soon underlined when Angus converted his own score after two minutes of second-half play (21-0). Accurate and well executed sevens play saw Scotland’s Dougie Fife pull one back for the Scots (converted by Andrew Skeen) on the five minute mark but his score was the game’s last, meaning Scotland line up to face Namibia in tomorrow’s Bowl quarter-finals. A determined Shiel added: “Our focus is now fully on having a successful day tomorrow. The players have stepped up to every challenge we’ve set as a team and they will make every sacrifice to improve their performance under pressure.” After the opening two tournaments, the eight-event HSBC Sevens World Series will break until February before taking its unique brand of entertainment to New Zealand, USA, Hong Kong, Australia, England and Scotland, climaxing at Murrayfield on 28-29 May 2011. SCOTLAND 7s SQUAD:David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby/Hawick), Struan Dewar (Edinburgh Rugby elite development/Heriot’s), Michael Fedo (Team Northumbria), Dougie Fife (Currie), Graham Fisken (West of Scotland), James Fleming (Glasgow Warriors/Dundee), Fraser Harkness (Selkirk), Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors/Dundee), James Johnstone (Glasgow Warriors elite development/Currie), Scott Riddell (Stewart’s Melville), Ross Samson (Edinburgh Rugby/Boroughmuir), Andrew Skeen (Watsonians) FOR PLAYER PROFILES OF THE SCOTLAND 7s SQUAD PLEASE VISIT WWW.SCOTLANDRUGBYTEAM.ORG 2010/11 HSBC Sevens World Series scheduleDubai, UAE – 3-4 December 2010George, South Africa – 10-11 December 2010Wellington, New Zealand – 4-5 February 2011Las Vegas, USA – 12-13 February 2011Hong Kong – 25-27 March 2011Adelaide, Australia – 2-3 April 2011London, England – 21-22 May 2011Edinburgh, Scotland – 28-29 May 2011 TICKETS FOR THE EMIRATES AIRLINE EDINBURGH 7s ARE ON SALE NOW! Two days, sixteen nations, 44 matches – one great weekend! For a fifth season the IRB Sevens World Series comes to Murrayfield with the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s being the eighth and final leg of a super season of international sevens. Scotland put in a stellar performance at the last event, bringing home the Plate after defeating some of the big hitters on the sevens circuit – Fiji, USA, Wales, South Africa and Argentina.  Samoa were the overall winners in Edinburgh, taking home the Ned Haig Cup, as well as the main IRB Sevens World Series trophy. Tickets for this fast and furious festival of rugby are on sale now and are priced from£5 for under-18s,£10 for students and senior citizens and£20 for adults. All tickets are ANY DAY tickets – valid for one day of your choice, either Saturday 28 May or Sunday 29 May. Keep checking www.edinburgh7s.com for some terrific ticket offers throughout the season!