A weight of expectation rests on the shoulders of the Scotland players ahead of stepping out at Murrayfield this weekend in the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s, the final leg of the HSBC World Series, writes Alan Lorimer.
The squad selected for the Murrayfield leg of the series, won the Plate last season after achieving wins over Wales, USA and, significantly, Fiji in the pool stage, and South Africa in the semi-final of the Plate.
Twelve months earlier, at the end of their most successful season on the IRB circuit, Stephen Gemmell’s side lost narrowly to South Africa in the Cup semi-final after defeating Samoa in the quarters. And there was also the satisfaction of a 33-17 win against England on day one.
This season, Scotland have not enjoyed the successes of previous years, not least as a result of dithering from Murrayfield over professional sevens contracts. The delay meant the Scots have been ill-equipped to take on not merely the big boys in the world game but a number of emerging countries who, encouraged by the game’s new Olympic status and consequent new source of funds, have invested in strong squads.
Last weekend at Twickenham, Scotland suffered a whitewash in the pool stages before recovering their composure to win the Bowl. On paper, it looked like a disaster but the reality, apart from the game against Canada, was different.
The Scots played well against Samoa and Australia in the pool matches and could have won both, conversions costing them the game against the Pacific islanders and a poor second half gifting the Wallabies a narrow win.
The total losing margin was sevens points against Samoa and Australia. “We had one blip against Canada, and we put that down a bit of inexperience, but we performed very well against both Samoa and Australia,” said Graham Shiel, the Scotland sevens coach.
There is optimism that Scotland can transform what-might-have-beens into reality when they face Samoa again today. The optimism is based on the sevens skills of Colin Gregor who, along with Edinburgh’s Jim Thompson, returns to the side today.
Stephen Gemmell, the former coach, frequently referred to Gregor as “a world-class performer” and few would demur. Gregor, who stood in for the injured Chris Cusiter at scrum-half for Glasgow Warriors during much of the season, will, though, come into the World Series without having played international sevens this season.
Even so, he has the temperament, skills and vision that could make a significant difference to the Scotland performance today. “Colin will come in as someone who will bolster the squad,” said Shiel.
Gregor will be vital in working out a strategy to defeat Fiji, who showed their strength last weekend with a 42-19 cup semi-final win over New Zealand – although the All Blacks had already secured the World Series title by then. The overall winners may be decided but the race this weekend will be for the second spot held by England but hotly contested by South Africa, Samoa and Fiji.
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