Scotland 7s head coach looks ahead to Glasgow 7s opener

With one day now left until the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s begins teams will conclude their preparations with their captain’s run, where they’ll work through their moves and finalise their game plan, today.At 1.04pm tomorrow (Saturday 4 May), Scotland 7s will kick-off their penultimate HSBC Sevens World Series campaign against Portugal, before taking on their old rival England at 4.10pm. They will then conclude their day against circuit leaders New Zealand at 7.21pm, the last match of the day. Scotland 7s head coach, Stephen Gemmell, looks ahead to the tournament. He said: “Portugal we have played a number of times this year and the average score has finished with roughly two points in it. However, last time they beat us, they have powerful runners and experienced players. They will challenge us and we’ll need to be at the top of our game to make sure we open our campaign well. “England we have played a few times, we have beaten them the last two times but they have a very good squad with a group of players who will be hurting from recent disappointments.”This game is Scotland v England, it will have many expectations and emotions, but we have to focus on playing our game and not getting caught up in the hype of the rivalry.”Finally, New Zealand’s record speaks for itself they have outstanding individuals, the most experienced and successful coach in sevens and they are rightly leaders of the World Series. But, you want to challenge yourself against the best and we know we will have to be at the top of our game to do that. “All we can do now is control our own preparations, how we turn up on Saturday and how we perform and that is all we will focus on from now. We start at 1.04pm tomorrow and we have to make sure we maintain our game plan throughout the two days.”Scotland 7s squad for the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May: Chris Dean (Scotland 7s EDP), Struan Dewar (Scotland 7s), Michael Fedo (Scotland 7s), Alex Glashan (Scotland 7s EDP), Colin Gregor (captain) (Scotland 7s), John Houston (Scotland 7s), Lee Jones (Edinburgh Rugby), Michael Maltman (Scotland 7s), Byron McGuigan (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Riddell (Scotland 7s), Colin Shaw (Scotland 7s) and Andrew Turnbull (Scotland 7s).