FOUR years ago, James Fleming wanted to be one of a magnificent seven. Instead, he was merely one of 50,000. Missing the Glasgow Commonwealth Games as a player spurred him to make sure that he would be still be around for the Gold Coast in 2018.

However, despite various niggles and problems leading up to the Australian festival of sport, Fleming will be in the right place at the right time on this occasion, part of Scotland’s Sevens squad for Down Under. And, he might finally be able to park all memories of 2014, and being nothing more than an individual in a full-house at Ibrox, once and for all.

“I went on the Saturday and it was really difficult to watch,” Fleming reflected. It was an unbelievable atmosphere, and to have that many people for a Sevens tournament in Scotland was awesome. “I was injured for the whole (13/14) season, but had got fit for the end, so I did all the prep leading up to the Games, and all the kind of exciting build-up bits - and then me and Robbo [Mark Robertson] drove down the road when the rest of the boys went into camp.

“It was hard to watch, but it was a big motivator for me to get the head down. I know, I was 26 then and was thinking I'd be 30 when this one came around. But I just got the head down and aimed for this.”

The renowned finisher had been hoping for a clear and injury-free run to Oz, but Fleming has had to sidestep a couple of scares, dating back to September.

“I had a shoulder operation. I had a niggle which needed a bit of a tidy up - which was a bit more of a mess than a tidy up. But all good now. That was the thinking at the time of the operation; either get this fixed or it's going to drag into this time of year."

After one tournament back, Fleming then had his time in the USA cut short.

“I picked up a bit of a niggle in my calf so I had to come home from Vegas unfortunately. But I'm ready to go now. This is the time to come back, with Hong Kong first next week, which is a massive tournament as well.”

Fleming’s longevity in this form of the game has to be admired. And with years, and experience, comes change. Some of the mainstays, like Robertson and Scott Wight, have gone, but the intensity and ambition remains within the Sevens set-up, even for some of the newcomers.

“There is a real belief to go right at it. I mean, there are medals to be had,” Fleming says. “That would be my target for us as a squad. You talk about a transition year, which is what it is as a team and a group. And we've done that over the last few tournaments.

“There was the Bowl competition we won [in Vancouver], and three games in a day in any tournament is big for a team, to get that consistency. There is a bit of belief amongst the younger guys, and, some of the older players, like Jonesy [Lee Jones], coming back, make it an exciting time.

“We started the season in Dubai with a quarter-final straight away. And we had a quarter-final in Hamilton.

“It's a bit of a contrast to the year before, in terms of performances, because we were sitting fourth after four tournaments. It's great for the sport, because suddenly the expectation levels are right up here. Compare that to me and Scott Riddell. We were 25 tournaments in to our careers before we hit a quarter-final.

“Now you have young guys who are coming in and hitting QFs. The bar is raised. We are judging ourselves against previous teams, but at the same time we are introducing young guys.

“I remember sitting in the changing room last year with George Horne in Cape Town, and he had his head in his hands and he was so gutted because we'd just lost a semi-final. I said to him, that was only the second time we'd been in a semi-final overseas

“But we had a young guy who was gutted at only coming fourth. For me, that was pretty cool to see.”

Fleming aims to savour his Commonwealth Games experience, but still appreciates that despite being part of a bigger Scots sporting team, it will be business as usual on the Gold Coast.

“I guess I'm quite excited. There is a real Team Scotland feel; we are striving to be the most successful Scotland team ever at an overseas Games. But, for us, we are still within our squad, within our targets, and it's a Sevens tournament at the end of the day, which we will be going out to medal in.”