Scotland 7s March Into April On A Roll

After picking up six points at the IRB San Diego 7s and seeing themselves race up the overall standings to 10th place, Scotland join Fiji, Portugal and Sri Lanka in Pool A at the upcoming IRB Hong Kong 7s which runs from 30th March to 1st April. Day one sees Scotland take on Portugal while the Scots kick off the day two fixtures with the match against Sri Lanka and round off the pool games later on the 31st against Fiji. That last game against the top seeds and currently most successful 7s nation ever, will see the Scots out to avenge the 7-57 defeat they suffered against the side in the opening game of the USA 7s last month. With 24 teams competing over three days before crowds of 40,000 for total prize money of US$150,000 (roughly£76,000), the Hong Kong event is considered the jewel in the IRB World Series crown. Founded in 1976, the event was cited as one of the first to attract major commercial sponsorship and has seen Fiji run out winners nine times over the last thirty years – the south sea islanders also won on the two occasions the Rugby World Cup Sevens was held in Hong Kong (1997 and 2005) – with England the current event title holders. The tournament marks the fifth fixture in this season’s IRB Sevens World Series…where all roads lead to Scotland for the final fixture on the calendar, the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s on 2-3 June.