Scots sign off from Team GB in Dubai

Several Scots were involved over the course of the weekend, with Lisa Thomson and Shona Campbell representing Team GB – the latter scoring two tries in the competition.

Team GB’s men rallied throughout, coming second in a pool containing the impressive eventual tournament winners South Africa, Ireland and Japan, with two wins from three earning a quarter-final berth.

They lost to Argentina but displayed enormous strength to get over the line, again against Ireland, in the match that followed, a game made especially notable given the Irish scored a last-gasp try to take the tie into extra time, only for Scotland’s Jamie Farndale to dig deep into reserves to clinch victory with a sensational finish from fully 60 metres out.

Team GB’s final involvement on the 2021/22 HSBC World Sevens Series pitted them against Kenya for the right to finish fifth, and they duly obliged with two superb scores from Robbie Fergusson in a 10-5 success, on a weekend that saw Paddy Kelly, Ross McCann and Max McFarland also enjoy game time.

After two rounds of the series, Team GB’s men’s and women’s squads sit fifth and sixth respectively in the standings, with points accrued thus far to be apportioned to the Scotland, England and Wales sides now reverting back to join the series as of 2022. Scotland 7s will be represented by their men’s squad for the rest of the campaign, which restarts in Malaga on January 21 early next year.

Throughout 2021, Team GB have enjoyed a journey that has seen them compete in both men’s and women’s tournaments on the HSBC World Sevens Series as well as at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.