New Zealand beat Scotland in Friday night tie

Scotland struggled to put a mark on their opening match in the Hong Kong 7s this evening (28 March), losing out to championship chasing New Zealand, 33-0.However, tomorrow will be a new day, in the seventh leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, with ties against USA (3.34am) and Samoa (7.14am). Tonight, USA beat Samoa, 26-12, in their Friday evening encounter.Scotland 7s head coach, Stephen Gemmell, said: “New Zealand are the World Champions.  We made too many errors against them and we were punished for it.”In the first half there were times we played our game and looked like we could possibly create something, but the kick and chase that Mark Robertson wasn’t quite able to collect was a turning point, because we were only 7-0 down with 30 seconds left to play in the half.We now need to move into tomorrow with our heads up.  If we play well and apply our strategy to the match and have some more accuracy then we can achieve something here.”There times in the match that Scotland looked good, James Johnstone tackled well in the wide channels and Lee Jones looked threatening with ball in hand. Centre, Robertson was the closest player to a score when he chipped the ball through and was then in space.  However he wasn’t quite able to collect it and the ball went loose as he crossed the line.Scotland 7s squad to compete in the Hong Kong 7s (29-30 March): Scott Riddell, Finlay Gillies (Glasgow Warriors), Mark Robertson, Lee Jones (Glasgow Warriors), Colin Gregor, Chris Dean, Andrew Turnbull, Michael Maltman, Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Wight (Glasgow Warriors), James Johnstone and James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors). Hong Kong 7s day one Scotland 0-33 New ZealandStarting team: Scott Riddell, Mark Robertson, Michael Maltman, Lee Jones, Colin Gregor, Mark Bennett and James Johnstone.Replacements: Chris Dean, James Eddie (both 9mins), Andrew Turnbull (10mins), Finlay Gillies and Scott Wight (both 12mins).