Scotland Sevens head coach Calum MacRae is confident that a number of his players can now go on and grab a spot in the Great Britain Olympic squad after glory at the weekend.
With the Olympics taking place in August, Great Britain head coach Simon Amor will get a first look at his 25-man extended training group from Monday onwards.
Scott Riddell, Jamie Farndale and Mark Robertson – who helped Scotland win the HSBC Sevens World Series event title in London at the weekend – will be heading to Teddington along with Gavin Lowe and Mark Bennett.
And when the final 12-man squad for Rio is named in a couple of months, MacRae expects a few Scottish names to be in the party.
“These guys are now genuine candidates to be Olympians which is really exciting for them,” MacRae said.
“Selection for any big competition like the Olympics should be on form and certainly with Scotland we have guys who are in top form at the minute.
“The level of this sport is growing all the time and we have seen a lot of world superstars coming onto the World Series circuit this year ahead of Rio.
“However, they have not all found it that easy to switch from XVs to sevens and that has been testament to the core sevens players like Scott Riddell and others continuing to perform at the top of their game.”
Thirty-year-old Riddell was playing in his 50th World Series event at Twickenham and many believe he should be one of the first names in the Great Britain squad.
The forward said: “I have been focusing fully on Scotland in recent months, but now I am looking forward to a few days of rest with my family and then I will refocus and get ready for the start of the Great Britain training.
“The thought of playing at the Olympics is still a long way off, there are 25 guys looking to make a 12-man squad so I will just try and get my head down and put in the hard work required.
“As for the win at Twickenham, well I can’t say enough about the spirit of the guys in the Scotland squad. I know that putting six good games back-to-back over two days is incredibly draining.
“Now I believe we can use this win to really give us momentum heading into next season - and start to challenge for more success.”
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