Scotland 7s have finished their Las Vegas Sevens campaign as Shield runners-up in the fifth round of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
The team ended their third day of competition with an epic win over Uruguay, 40-12, but ultimately fell short of winning the Shield trophy, losing to France, 22-7, in the final.
Head coach, Graham Shiel, said: “Everyone in the team is disappointed. The players have worked hard and put in lots of effort, but came away with nothing.
“We struggled to control possession throughout the weekend and in real terms our basics have not been good enough when put under pressure. Sevens is an extremely difficult game when you don’t have the ball.
“Las Vegas has been a reality check of our position in world Sevens. We need to analyse ourselves and make a number of improvements so that we can compete at the highest level of the game.”
Scotland had to start day three off making amends for their one-point loss to Japan the day before, and they did just that wracking up some 28 points in the first half against Uruguay. Byron McGuigan, Andrew Turnbull, Sean Kennedy and Hamish Watson all crossed the line and added their names to the score-sheet.
In the second period, Turnbull bolstered his ever increasing try count with another two scores to complete his hat-trick. At this stage the Scots had a 40-point lead, with Colin Gregor converting every try bar one. However, late in the game, Uruguay got on the score-sheet with touchdowns from Felipe Berchesi and Santiago Arocena.  40-12
Against France it was looking like anyone’s game at half-time. Graham Fisken and Mathieu Acebes had exchanged scores, both of which were converted. However, a try from the French early in the second-half ended the Scots chances and all it took to seal the victory was one more touchdown. 7-22
Scotland 7s now have five weeks to prepare for the sixth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Hong Kong (23-25 March). The draw for this event will be made in due course.
Scotland results in Las Vegas Sevens:
Scotland 14-17 Kenya
Scotland 7-12 England
Scotland 33-5 Brazil
Scotland 14-15 Japan
Scotland 40-12 Uruguay
Scotland 7-22 France

This article was posted on 13-Feb-2012, 14:13 by Hugh Barrow.