The Scotland 7s team lifted the plate title at the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s to finish fifth – their best ever finish at a World Series event. The victory came as they won five of their six ties over two days of competition including wins over some of the most exciting sevens teams on earth – Fiji, USA, Wales, South Africa and Argentina. The final marked Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell’s IRB Sevens World Series swansong, and as the country’s most successful sevens coach to date, he agreed that there was no better way to hang up his tracksuit. The Scotland 7s team lifted the plate title at the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s to finish fifth – their best ever finish at a World Series event. The victory came as they won five of their six ties over two days of competition including wins over some of the most exciting sevens teams on earth – Fiji, USA, Wales, South Africa and Argentina. The final marked Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell’s IRB Sevens World Series swansong, and as the country’s most successful sevens coach to date, he agreed that there was no better way to hang up his tracksuit. “It’s been an honour for me to be involved this weekend and to have done it for the last four years,” he said. “There is a real mix of emotions. We’ve had some real highs, and some real lows, and I carry the responsibility for both. But the highs have certainly out done the lows.  “For me to have played a part in the development of the players’ careers, or in the success of Scotland 7s, is great.” On the team’s success and the support of the Murrayfield crowd, Gemmell continued: “There’s massive pride, but also a little bit of disappointment, as we all thought we could go that extra step (in the Cup competition). But we have created a little bit of history there – winning five out of six – and we have beaten some of the best sevens teams in the world. “For the players to bounce back the way they did and dig deep against South Africa and go out with a win against Argentina, I just take my hat off to every one of them.”The reaction of the crowd all weekend was magnificent. When you come home to Murrayfield, the crowd always gives you a big boost, especially in the close games.”The noise when the players ran out, and the number of saltires around the ground, is something that will live with me for the rest of my days.”Following an unbeaten run on day one against all three teams ranked above them in Pool D – Fiji, Samoa and World Cup champions Wales – Scotland’s road to the plate final started with defeat at the hands of England.However they bounced back to beat reigning IRB Sevens World Series champions, South Africa, in their second outing before defeating Argentina in the final. Cup quarter-final: Scotland 7 – 19 EnglandThe first match of the day, against England, started on a nervy note but Scotland held on with a good defensive work-rate.Ben Gollings looked to have broken clear early on, but a tap tackle from Greig Laidlaw brought the sevens stalwart to ground and saved the match from getting off on the wrong note.As Scotland had won all three games yesterday in front of a magnificent Murrayfield support, they brought the crowd to its feet once more.Having enjoyed the majority of possession, Scotland worked through the phases and eventually carved an opening on which Roddy Grant pounced to score between the posts. Laidlaw converted, 7-0.England almost brought things level as Uche Oduoza powered up the left wing. Andrew Turnbull tried to swipe him down but John Houston was soon on the scene and smothered him to ground. Half-time score: Scotland 7-0 EnglandScotland continued to compete in the second period, but it was England who found a cutting edge to their game and scored a hat-trick of tries to seal the win.A sharp pick-and-go from the ruck saw Mat Turner nip up the wing where he passed Andrew Turnbull. Roddy Grant tried to give chase but there was no chance of him making up enough ground to catch him. Gollings converted, 7-7.England then finished with a Royle reception as Sales Sharks winger Nick Royle ran in for a brace.Sitting out in space on the left, he ran in for his first before he pounced on a loose ball that flew over the head of Greig Laidlaw – due to an incoming tackle on Hogg.Gollings converted the final try, 7-19. Fulltime score: Scotland 7-19 England   Plate semi-final: South Africa 14 – 19 ScotlandAs the rain started to fall on Murrayfield, it was an arid start to the plate semi-final for Scotland as Chris Dry ran in two tries for the visitors. His first came as he received a forward pass up the left wing, which was not picked up by the touch-judge. Both were converted, 14-0. However Scotland fought to reduce the half-time deficit and, after chipping away at the rock solid South African defence, they finally broke through. Mark Robertson chipped the ball ahead and beat his man to the ball from where he launched himself over the line, 14-7. Half-time score: South Africa 14-7 Scotland Scotland continued to exert the same pressure they had applied in the first.Robertson, who had earlier ignited his own try, was once again the spark for Scotland’s scoring opportunities.He broke away in midfield and offloaded to Mike Adamson, who danced through the scattered South African defence, only to emerge clean out the other side and slide over in the corner.Scotland’s final score was a contender for try of the day.In a phase of outstanding offloading play, Colin Shaw burst clear before linking up with Ally Hogg who returned the ball back to the winger. The final pass was popped back inside to Ben Cairns who crossed between the posts, 14-19.Scotland then proceeded to soak up the time and ran the clock down inside the South African half before Laidlaw booted the ball out of the stadium cueing the Murrayfield celebrations. Fulltime score: South Africa 14-19 Scotland Plate Final: Scotland 19 – 0 ArgentinaScotland rediscovered their ruthless edge in the plate final as they sought to win their first ever second-tier title in Edinburgh. They thrilled the home crowd by following up their strong day one performance with a three-tries-to-nil victory over Argentina. An early score from Andrew Turnbull raised the tempo of the game which had started with both sides reluctant to open up and risk losing ball through their attack, 5-0. Some great work inside a single square metre of space involved Greig Laidlaw, Roddy Grant and Colin Shaw who worked to unlock Argentina’s grip on the Scots’ attack. Grant eventually unshackled himself and passed inside to Shaw who scored in the shadow of the posts. Laidlaw converted, 12-0. Half-time score: Scotland 12-0 Argentina The Argentines came out from the changing rooms with yet more fire in their bellies and had decent spells in possession early. However, sterling Scottish defence – the highlight of which was a crunching tackle by Shaw – stopped the attack dead.Mark Robertson then took to the field for Andrew Turnbull as Scotland sought the score that could kill off the tie.But it wasn’t the fresh legs of Robertson that sealed the game for the hosts. Ben Cairns countered to perfection when he received the ball right out on the touch-line in his own in-goal area.The Edinburgh centre floored his in-rushing defender with a no-nonsense stiff arm to open up the Argentine defence. It was then up to Cairns to gas the length of the pitch to score the winner, 17-0.Laidlaw converted the drop-goal to win the tie for the Scots with a clean sheet in front of the booming adoration of the Murrayfield support, 19-0.Fulltime score: Scotland 19-0 Argentina Scotland 7s v England: Ben Cairns (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Ally Hogg (Edinburgh), Roddy Grant (Edinburgh), Colin Shaw*, Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh) Scotland 7s v South Africa: Ben Cairns (Edinburgh), Mark Robertson (Edinburgh), Ally Hogg (Edinburgh), Roddy Grant (Edinburgh), Mike Adamson, Colin Shaw*, Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh) Scotland 7s v Argentina: Ben Cairns (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Ally Hogg (Edinburgh), Roddy Grant (Edinburgh), Colin Shaw*, Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh) Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh) Scotland 7s squad to compete at the IRB Sevens World Series in Edinburgh (29 & 30 May): Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh) CAPTAIN*, Mike Adamson*, Alex Blair (Edinburgh Accies)**, Ben Cairns (Edinburgh), Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s)**, Roddy Grant (Edinburgh), Ally Hogg (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Lee Jones (Selkirk)**, Mark Robertson (Edinburgh), Colin Shaw*, Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh) * = Scotland 7s contracted player** = Member of Scottish Rugby’s National Academy Pool D – Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7sUSA, Fiji, Wales, Scotland Scotland’s Pool D results and fixtures on day one (Saturday 29 May) of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7sFiji 14-31 ScotlandUSA 7-19 ScotlandWales 22-31 Scotland Scotland’s results in the knock-out stages on day two (Sunday 30 May) of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7sCup quarter-final: Scotland 7-19 EnglandPlate semi-final: South Africa 14-19 ScotlandPlate final: Scotland 19-0 Argentina