MacRae delighted with player ‘focus and determination to win’

Scotland 7s Head Coach Calum MacRae has paid tribute to the new breed of young players developing on the sevens circuit, following his side’s Bowl victory in Cape Town.MacRae, who took over as Head Coach at the beginning of the 2014/15 Series, has hailed the impact of the youngsters, who he feels have been brought on by the experienced squad-member, tweeting: Speaking to scottishrugby.org, he said: “The progress and the development of the younger players has been excellent.”Jamie Farndale and Gavin Lowe are now making impacts on ties and the new caps Robbie [Nairn], Magnus [Bradbury] and Nick [McLennan] showed they are capable of performing at senior international level.”Despite a win over Russia in the final tie of day one, defeats to Fiji and eventual finalists Argentina in the pool stages saw Scotland drop to the Bowl competition. However, it was the side’s performance on the second day of competition, that was particularly impressive as they secured victories over Samoa, Wales and England, on the road to lifting the Bowl.MacRae continued: “I’m very pleased with the wins on day two, but more importantly the manner in which we got them. “Having missed out on the Cup knockout stages by very narrow margins, both in Dubai and Cape Town, it’s easy to over analyse things. “However, we focussed on our fundamentals and didn’t waver, which says a lot about the focus and determination to win within our group, driven by our core players.”We’re also pleased that we finished the two weeks of competition strongly, which is testament to the quality work Nick Lumley [strength and conditioning coach] has done with the group.” The national 7s team will have a break from competition over the festive period, before returning to action on 30 January in the Wellington leg of the World Rugby HSBC Series. Scotland will meet hosts New Zealand and South Africa in Pool A, as well as Russia for the third time in as many competitions.