Scotland 7s struggle in Bucharest on day one

Scotland 7s’ last tournament prior to the first round of the 2013/14 HSBC Sevens World Series, in Australia (12-13 October), is a chance for the coaches to see where their side is at, ahead of the circuit which begins in under a month.Unfortunately, in Bucharest today, in the FIRA-AER European Grand Prix Sevens Series the team suffered more defeats than victories, losing three of their four matches. The day started well with a 41-7 win over Ukraine, but defeat to Germany in the second match (22-7), saw them struggle to return to the form of the first game and another two defeats followed to France (19-12) and Russia (17-5) respectively. Scotland 7s captain, Scott Riddell, said: “Overall we’re very disappointed. These were not the results we were after. If we don’t perform to the top level of our capabilities we open ourselves up to today’s results.”At times we worked through some good phases, but at this level if you make basic errors you get punished for them. We made too many basic errors.”It was Gregor Young’s first outing with the team today and he put himself about the park very well.”Today’s games will be a learning curve for all of us, but we will now have to rebuild and look ahead to tomorrow.”Scotland 7s will play one more group game tomorrow against Spain at 9.06am (UK time). They will then move into the knockout stages. The try-scorers for Scotland 7s today were, Mark Robertson (with three, two v Ukraine and one v Germany), Chris Dean (with two v Ukraine), Alex Glashan (with one v Ukraine), Struan Dewar (with two, one v Ukraine and one v Russia), Gregor Young (with one v Ukraine), James Johnstone (with one v France) and Andrew Turnbull (with one v France). Glashan added two conversions, Jack Ferguson two and Andrew Turnbull one.FIRA-AER European Grand Prix Series – BucharestDay oneScotland 41-7 UkraineTries: Chris Dean (2), Alex Glashan, Mark Robertson (2), Struan Dewar and Gregor YoungConversions: Alex Glashan (2) and Jack FergusonStarting team: Scott Riddell, Struan Dewar, Joseva Nayacavou, Andrew Turnbull, Alex Glashan, Chris Dean and James Johnstone.Subs: Mark Robertson (8mins), Gregor Young, Jack Ferguson (both 10mins), Chris Dean and James Fleming (both 12mins).Scotland 7-22 GermanyTry: Mark RobertsonConversion: Jack FergusonStarting team: Scott Riddell, Gregor Young, Michael Maltman, Alex Glashan, Jack Ferguson, Mark Robertson and James Fleming.Subs: Chris Dean (8mins), Struan Dewar (11mins), Andrew Turnbull (13mins), Joseva Nayacavou (13mins) and James Johnstone (not used).Scotland 12-19 FranceTries: James Johnstone and Andrew TurnbullConversion: Andrew TurnbullStarting team: Scott Riddell, Struan Dewar, Joeseva Nayacavou, Andrew Turnbull, Alex Glashan, Chris Dean and James Johnstone.Subs: Mark Robertson (13mins), Michael Maltman, Gregor Young, Jack Ferguson and James Fleming (all 14mins).Scotland 5-17 RussiaTry: Struan DewarStarting team: Scott Riddell, Gregor Young, Michael Maltman, Jack Ferguson, James Johnstone, Mark Robertson and James Fleming.Subs: Struan Dewar (6mins), Joseva Nayacavou (10mins), Andrew Turnbull, Alex Glashan and Chris Dean (not used).