Scotland to meet Canada, USA and Argentina in Wellington

Scotland 7s made it as far as the Bowl semi-final, in Las Vegas, this weekend. They now move on to the fifth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, in Wellington, in a fortnight.The side will meet this weekend’s third placed finisher and Commonwealth Games opponent, Canada, as well as the two Americas sides, Argentina and USA, at the Westpac Stadium on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 February.Head coach, Stephen Gemmell, said: Our group in Wellington has three very good teams, and in order to progress there we have to focus on our own game and getting things right. This weekend we made too many errors and were punished dearly for that, despite at times playing good rugby.We moved up into the third pot of seeds today, from South Africa, which is good, but Canada finished third here and played really well all weekend, USA will be disappointed with their finish, losing a couple of games by a point or two and Argentina are a well drilled physical side, so it’s going to be challenging group.We’re looking forward to the next week-and-a-half preparing for the New Zealand tournament.In the knock-out rounds on day two and three, in Vegas, the Scots first opened with a 31-7 win v Portugal, before coming up short against Kenya in the Bowl semi-final, 7-21. The Portugal victory was much needed to ensure the side finished higher in the rankings at the end of the tournament (11th), than where they were when they arrived (13th) in Nevada. The victory also followed a poor showing in the group stages where they slumped to three defeats v Fiji (0-24), New Zealand (5-26) and then Australia (7-26).On the score-sheet this weekend, there were tries scored by James Johnstone, in the two pool games, Lee Jones was the sole scorer against Kenya and the five touchdowns in the Portugal match were scored by Scott Riddell, Jones with a brace, Colin Gregor and Struan Dewar. Gregor also converted five tries throughout the course of the tournament.Las Vegas 7 – Group BScotland 0-24 FijiStarting team: Scott Riddell, Struan Dewar, Colin Gregor, John Houston, Lee Jones, Michael Maltman and Russell Weir.Replacements: James Johnstone (8mins), Alex Glashan (11mins), Gregor Young, Scott Wight (13mins) and Finlay Gillies (14mins).Scotland 5-26 New ZealandTry: James JohnstoneStarting team: Scott Riddell, Struan Dewar, Alex Glashan, Colin Gregor, John Houston, Michael Maltman and James Johnstone.Replacements: Russell Weir, Lee Jones (9mins), Finlay Gillies, Scott Wight (13mins) and Gregor Young (14mins)Scotland 7-26 AustraliaTry: James JohnstoneConversion: Colin GregorStarting team: Scott Riddell, Finlay Gillies, Struan Dewar, Colin Gregor, John Houston, Lee Jones and Russell Weir.Replacements: Gregor Young (8mins), James Johnstone (10mins), Alex Glashan, Michael Maltman (12mins) and Scott Wight (14mins).Las Vegas – Bowl competition Scotland 31-7 Portugal (quarter-final)Tries: Scott Riddel, Lee Jones (2), Colin Gregor and Struan DewarConversions: Colin Gregor (3)Starting team: Scott Riddell, Finlay Gillies, Struan Dewar, Alex Glashan, Colin Gregor, John Houston and Lee Jones.Replacements: Russell Weir, James Johnstone (9mins), Gregor Young (10mins), Michael Maltman (12mins) and Scott Wight (not used).Scotland 7-21 Kenya (semi-final)Try: Lee JonesConversion: Colin GregorStarting team: Scott Riddell, Finlay Gillies, Struan Dewar, Colin Gregor, Lee Jones, Russell Weir and James Johnstone.Replacements: Michael Maltman (11mins), Alex Glashan (13mins), John Houston, Scott Wight and Gregor Young (not used).