Scotland bag Cup quarter-final at London 7s

Scotland 7s booked themselves a spot in the London 7s Cup quarter-final, after finishing second in their group with a draw and two wins.Scotland opened their day with a 14-all draw against last week’s hosts, France, before recording two solid wins Singapore Cup winners Kenya (24-12) and Portugal (31-14).France joined Calum MacRae’s side on the paddock for the first tie of the day, with Les Bleus commanding a 7-0 lead at the break through a Julien Aicardi try and conversion.It looked as though Scotland were also going to get themselves on the scoresheet early on through Nick McLennan, yet the try was disallowed for a foot in touch.Aicardi touched down immediately after the break, with the conversion taking both his personal and team’s tally to 14 points.MacRae rung the changes just after the French try, and the substitutes proved a vital addition as Jamie Farndale and James Johnstone, both who came off the bench after the interval, ran in late tries as Scotland staged an impressive comeback.Scott Wight’s conversions tied the score at 14-all as the game was drawn to a close.Next up were Singapore 7s Cup winners, Kenya, who sit seventh in the World Series standings.Scotland carried forth their momentum from their second-half performance against France, with Johnstone and Damien Hoyland both crossing the whitewash in the opening two minutes, and Wight adding the extras to put his side 14 points ahead.Scott Riddell, who was making his 50th World Series appearance this week in London, added another on the five minute mark to extend Scotland’s lead.Kenya managed to close the gap prior to the half-time whistle with a try from Collins Injera and conversion from Samuel Oliech (19-7). Mark Robertson, however, effectively closed out the game after 13 minutes with his first try in London, before Injera grabbed another consolation score for Kenya, with the game ending 24-12 in favour of the Scots.Scotland went into their final game of the day against Portugal, with a Cup quarter-final place up for grabs.MacRae’s side were in control at half-time with tries from Jamie Farndale and Hoyland, the former converted by Wight, giving Scotland a 12-7 lead , with Portugal’s points coming from Leal.Farndale grabbed his second following the interval, yet Portugal’s reply from Fernandes and Leal’s conversion closed the gap to just three points after 11 minutes (17-14).However, Scotland showed composure to see the game out as speedster James Fleming grabbed a brace in the final minutes. Captain Wight slotted both conversions to see Scotland close the game out at 31-14 and bag  place in the up quarter-finals for the second time this season.