Scotland 7S 19 – 14 Arabian Gulf 7S

The Scotland 7s team posted their first win of the IRB Sevens World Series today when they defeated host nation, the Arabian Gulf, in Dubai. The Scots put themselves under real pressure to perform having lost their two previous outings, but with only ninety seconds left on the clock, they sealed the elusive win. After the game, coach Stephen Gemmell said: We’ve got a lot of inexperienced players here but that’s no excuse. They showed great character to have put so much pressure on themselves and then deliver in the final minutes of the final game.””We finished third in our pool, which was our seeding, and we’ll now face Zimbabwe in the Bowl tomorrow.” On tomorrow’s opponents, who the Scot also face next week in South Africa, Gemmell added: “They’re a typical African team, they’ll try and stretch your defence out wide and cut back inside to try and exploit the gaps. It’ll be a good exercise for the players who can learn a lot from playing them tomorrow.”The game against Zimbabwe kicks-off at 9:40am (local time) tomorrow, 5:40am GMT.Scotland 7s team v Arabian Gulf 7s: Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s)*, Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)* CAPTAIN, Ashleah McCulloch (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby)**, Rory Hutton (Hawick)*, Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Tom Bury (Boroughmuir)**Substitutes: Fraser McKenzie (Edinburgh) for Fusaro, Grant Anderson (Ayr)* for Bury, Graham Hogg (Hawick)* for Hutton (blood), Hutton for Hogg (blood reversed)Scotland 7s squad: Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)* CAPTAIN, Struan Dewar (Heriots)**, Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), Fraser McKenzie (Edinburgh), Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s)*, Ashleah McCulloch (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby)**, Tom Bury (Boroughmuir)**, Rory Hutton (Hawick)*, Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Graham Hogg (Hawick)*, Grant Anderson (Ayr)*, Chris Kinloch (Glasgow Warriors)* = Member of Scottish Rugby’s National Academy** = Member of Scottish Rugby’s Area Institute Supported National Academy