Scotland Mix Youth And Experience For 7S Opener

Head coach, Stephen Gemmell, today announced the Scotland 7s squad for the first two legs of the IRB 7s World Series in Dubai and George over the next few weeks. Roddy Grant returns to the squad to take the captaincy after his successful scholarship to New Zealand and despite losing Scott Forrest and Mike Adamson through injury the squad welcomes the return of Scotland 7s player of the season Chris Fusaro and the experienced Colin Shaw with new additions Rory Hutton and 19 year-olds Ashleah McCulloch and Struan Dewar doing enough on Scottish Thistles duty in Singapore to earn a place in the squad.Head coach, Stephen Gemmell, today announced the Scotland 7s squad for the first two legs of the IRB 7s World Series in Dubai and George over the next few weeks. Roddy Grant returns to the squad to take the captaincy after his successful scholarship to New Zealand and despite losing Scott Forrest and Mike Adamson through injury the squad welcomes the return of Scotland 7s player of the season Chris Fusaro and the experienced Colin Shaw with new additions Rory Hutton and 19 year-olds Ashleah McCulloch and Struan Dewar doing enough on Scottish Thistles duty in Singapore to earn a place in the squad. Gemmell, said: The changes in the squad reflect the progress made by previous squad members who are now playing regularly for our professional and Scotland A teams. International 7s is a great environment for our players to be exposed to the highest level of rugby. It’ll be a different test for a lot of the players. It ‘s a new environment for many and they will need to learn quickly that in international rugby you are punished for your mistakes. We need to focus on what we can do, we need to make sure the players are as prepared as they possibly can be and focus on ourselves. Scotland travel to the 7s opener at the ‘The Sevens’, Emirates Airline’s brand new stadium in Dubai, this Sunday (23 November) where they face South Africa, Kenya and the Arabian Gulf on 28 November before travelling to George in South Africa to take on Fiji, Argentina and Zimbabwe on 5 December. (Dubai – Pool B) 28 November, 10:14 – South Africa v Scotland 28 November, 15:32 – Kenya v Scotland 28 November, 17:44 – Scotland v Arabian Gulf (George, South Africa – Pool C) 5 December, 11:37 – Fiji v Scotland 5 December, 15:05 – Argentina v Scotland 5 December, 17:49 – Scotland v Zimbabwe Scotland 7s 12-man squad to travel to Dubai and George: * Roddy Grant CAPTAIN (West of Scotland) ** Struan Dewar (Heriots) Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors) Fraser McKenzie (Edinburgh Rugby) * Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s) ** Ashleah McCulloch (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby) * Jamie Hunter (West of Scotland) * Rory Hutton (Hawick) Andrew Easson (Edinburgh Rugby) * Graham Hogg (Hawick) * Grant Anderson (Ayr) Chris Kinloch (Glasgow Warriors) * denotes member of Scottish Rugby’s National Contracted Academy ** denotes member of Scottish Rugby’s National Area Institute Supported Academy The Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s is the eighth and final leg of the IRB Sevens World Series. It will be held on 30 and 31 May 2009 at Murrayfield Stadium. Tickets sales information will be announced shortly – log on to www.edinburgh7s.com for further information.