New Year Resolution For Scotland 7s

New Zealand pool opponents will test Scotland’s resolve to maintain their top eight position in Sevens’ world rankingsThe World Series circus comes to town for the first tournament of 2008 in New Zealand, with Wellington the host venue on 1/2 February. And the traditional ‘windy city’ of the southern hemisphere looks set to blow away the winter cobwebs for the Scotland side which has drawn Argentina, USA and Tonga in its pool.The Scots are currently sitting in eighth position on eight points in the rankings, some way above Tonga (15), one place above the USA and four below Argentina, who dazzled in George to finish third in that recent World Series tournament. With all the pool sides out to make their mark, Scotland coach Stephen Gemmell knows that topping the group will be a huge ask.It’s probably the toughest section in the tournament…you look at the other pools and you can get a rough idea of who will qualify but anyone is capable of winning our pool.It’s a tough challenge but the target is within rage, he continues. We want to enhance our stature as one of the top eight teams in the world and, if we are going to achieve this, we have to be capabale and confident in beating these teams. On our day we can do that but it’ll be a big challenge for our boys.Scotland’s pool fixtures on Day One of the IRB New Zealand Sevens are:Scotland v Tonga (1.22pm)Scotland v USA (4.18pm)Argentina v Scotland (8.50pm)