In Form Scotland Return To Murryfield

The Scotland 7s squad returned to the home of Scottish Rugby on Monday for the finale of the IRB sevens circuit having regained their winning form at the Emirates Airline London Sevens at the weekend. Under the guidance of Scotland’s most successful sevens coach, Stephen Gemmell, the Scots reached five Cup quarter-finals last season and matched that feat at Twickenham with convincing victories over Kenya (17-5) and Russia (31-7).The Scotland 7s squad returned to the home of Scottish Rugby on Monday for the finale of the IRB sevens circuit having regained their winning form at the Emirates Airline London Sevens at the weekend. Under the guidance of Scotland’s most successful sevens coach, Stephen Gemmell, the Scots reached five Cup quarter-finals last season and matched that feat at Twickenham with convincing victories over Kenya (17-5) and Russia (31-7). Scotland went on to face arguably the worlds most exciting rugby sevens country, Fiji, in the Cup quarter-finals but were denied a historic semi-final slot as the South Sea Islanders came back from 17-7 down to take the narrow victory with a 19-17 final score. South Africa, who the Scots will face in the pool stages this weekend at the home of Scottish rugby, lay in wait in the Plate semi-finals. A closely fought encounter saw South Africa progress to the final but only seven points separated the two sides at the final whistle (19-12).Scotland are now preparing for the final leg of the IRB series where they face Australia, South Africa and Argentina in pool B at the home of Scottish Rugby. 11:46am Scotland v Australia 2:30pm Scotland v South Africa 6:58pm Scotland v Argentina Twickenham 7s: How the pool panned out The weekend started positively with a convincing win over Kenya. Following the defeat in Hong Kong at the hands of the Kenyans, the Scots were keen to return the favour in London in a game that many saw as a must win. A first half brace from Richie Vernon followed by a fine second half effort from Adamson was enough to secure the victory (17-5). There was no question that the Scot’s second match would be their toughest and Pacific Island side, Samoa, who currently sit fourth in the IRB Sevens standings, were bound to pose a significant challenge. Despite Scotland going in at half time just two points adrift, the eventual Cup champions ran in three second half scores to win 31-12. The loss meant that Scotland had to beat European champions Russia in order to secure a place in the Cup quarter finals. A Turnbull sprint finish followed by another Vernon brace meant the Scots went in at the interval 19-0 up. Second half efforts from Turnbull and Adamson saw off the Russian challenge for second place in Pool D (31-7). Twickenham 7s: Knock-out stages Scotland’s second place spot in pool D meant they came up against pool C winners Fiji, in a game that the Scots dominated throughout – but were punished by two late tries to be edged 19-17 in final seconds of the game. The loss meant Scotland dropped into the semi finals of the plate where they met South Africa – knocked out of the cup by Argentina. An unconverted score the only difference in the sides at the close of play saw the Scots knocked out of the tournament despite their world-class performances against formidable opposition (12-19).