Singapore proves tough for Scotland HSBC World Sevens Series
11 Apr 2022Scotland struggled for consistency in Singapore as the HSBC World Sevens Series continued after a near-two-month break.
Having seen the Vancouver and Los Angeles legs in March both rescheduled, the series got back up and running in earnest over the weekend, with Scotland getting off to a winning start in beating Wales 26-24 in Pool C.
The result was especially notable for Jordan Edmunds, whose impressive start to sevens life saw the wing scorch home all four of his sides tries in a blistering personal performance.
The returning New Zealand were next up and although Scotland led 7-5 at the break through captain Jamie Farndale’s clever try, the Kiwis got over the line 19-7 in the end. Incidentally, this Singapore leg represented the talismanic Farndale’s 50th HSBC World Sevens Series event, with 46 coming for Scotland and a further four in the Team GB colours last year.
A shoot-out for a quarter-final berth then saw Scotland lead Argentina at half-time, with tries from Farndale and Kaleem Barreto earning a 14-12 interval advantage, only for their opponents to race to a 29-14 victory.
Those results pitted Scotland in a 9th-place semi-final against Spain, where another two tries from Edmunds couldn’t prevent defeat, the Iberians winning out 27-10.
Scotland’s final match of the weekend pitted them against Japan in a play-off to reach a 13th-place final and despite some dogged rallying, with tries scored by Farndale, Femi Sofolarin and Harvey Elms, Ciaran Beattie’s charges fell short, 24-21.
On such margins sevens matches are won and Scotland will have a swift opportunity to get back into action as they travel to Vancouver for the aforementioned rescheduled series event this coming weekend, April 16 and 17.
Head Coach Beattie said: “We went well in each Pool match but didn’t manage to hang on against New Zealand or Argentina, and it was tough going after that.
“Despite the results, we competed well especially in those Day One fixtures, and the onus is now on us as a squad to recover and go again in Vancouver. We have a lot of players just starting out on their sevens journey and every experience is part of that learning curve.”
Scotland have been drawn in Pool D in Vancouver, alongside Ireland, Argentina and France, with fixture times to be decided in due course.
