Scotland open sevens season against defending Dubai champions

Scotland will open their 2015/16 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series account against Russia, Samoa and defending Dubai 7s champions – and last season’s second-ranked side – the Blitzboks of South Africa.Nine months out from rugby sevens’ debut at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the pools and match schedule for the first of the 10 series legs.With global excitement building ahead of sevens’ biggest season, the world’s top players representing 28 national teams will compete in the Dubai tourament from 4-5 December, 2015.In the men’s competition, reigning series champions Fiji head Pool A and kick off proceedings against Canada with further ties against Japan and Argentina.Twelve-time series champions New Zealand face matches against USA, who are the most recent cup winners at the 2014/15 series finale in London, as well as France and Portugal in Pool C, while in Pool D the fourth-ranked side in last year’s series England line up against Australia, Wales and Kenya.World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: These are exciting and ground-breaking times for rugby sevens as we head into an Olympic Games year and now is the opportunity for our top men’s and women’s players to showcase their talents to new audiences on sport’s greatest stage.”POOL APOOL BPOOL CPOOL DFIJISOUTH AFRICANEW ZEALANDENGLANDARGENTINASCOTLANDUSAAUSTRALIACANADASAMOAFRANCEWALESJAPANRUSSIAPORTUGALKENYA HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2015/16Round 1 – Dubai 4-5 Dec 2015Round 2 – Cape Town 12-13 Dec 2015Round 3 – Wellington 30-31 Jan 2016Round 4 – Sydney 6-7 Feb 2016Round 5 – Las Vegas 4-6 Mar 2016Round 6 – Vancouver 12-13 Mar 2016Round 7 – Hong Kong 8-10 April 2016Round 8 – Singapore 16-17 April 2016Round 9 – Paris  14-15 May 2016Round 10 – London 21-22 May 2016 Men’s series core teams: Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand, England, Australia, USA, Scotland, Argentina, Canada, Samoa, France, Wales, Kenya, Portugal, Russia.