Scots Reach Forth Consecutive Cup Competition

Scotland 7s 7, New Zealand 7s 43 Having qualified for the Cup competition on day two of the previous three legs of the IRB Sevens World Series in San Diego, Hong Kong and Adelaide, Scotland entered this match safe in the knowledge that they had made the Cup quarter-finals tomorrow.Scotland 7s 7, New Zealand 7s 43 Having qualified for the Cup competition on day two of the previous three legs of the IRB Sevens World Series in San Diego, Hong Kong and Adelaide, Scotland entered this match safe in the knowledge that they had made the Cup quarter-finals tomorrow. Their fate was sealed as Italy saw off the challenge of Kenya by 29 points to 5 before the Scots took the field for the penultimate game of the day. Just after the opening minute had past, Colin Gregor found himself with no option but to execute a cross-field kick which was collected by Colin Shaw who skinned the last defender to claim the first try of the game. Mike Adamson converted. Two minutes later, the New Zealanders were pressurising the Scottish line and Afeleke Pelenise side stepped two defenders to dive over. The Kiwiis were unable to get the conversion. With only two minutes left of play in the first half, Pelenise crossed for his second. The last phase of play saw New Zealand dance their way through the Scotland defence with terrific changes in pace and direction. The ball made its way through the hands of Pelenise, Nigel Hunt, Edwin Cocker and eventually Tomasi Cama who touched down over the line. Scotland started the second half with conviction, Gregor darting up the left flank, only to be brought down agonisingly close the line. New Zealand’s reply was a score from Steven Yates who pounced on a loose ball to cross between the posts. Cama then recorded his second try of the game when, after a period of pressure inside the Scotland 22, New Zealand found themselves with enough space and had the numbers out wide to cross fairly easily. Pelenise claimed his hat-trick with little under a minute left on the clock as he stayed wide enough to beat Max Evans on the outsideNew Zealand capped off their day with a further try and a conversion to give them an unbeaten record for the first day in the London tournament. Reflecting on the pool stages of the Emirates Airline London Sevens, head coach Stephen Gemmell said: We’re very happy to have reached our fourth consecutive Cup quarter-final, but overall, we are disappointed with our performances. We’ve achieved our aim which was to be in the Cup quarter-final but the manner in which we got there isn’t how we had planned. Everyone in the dressing room knows we’re better than that and we’ve identified key areas of our game that we need to continue working on.Scotland 7s now face Wales in the Cup quarter-final on Sunday which kicks-off at 12:50pm.