Having lost narrowly to Wales and South Africa Scotland came good again Russia 33-5 including two tries from Hawks
Ross Miller


GREGOR’S GALLANT EFFORT IN VAIN
Saturday, 05 May 2012
Once again Scotland 7s came within a whisker of points and minutes of beating South Africa in the pool stages of the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s, but succumbed to an agonising 19-14 defeat.
The Scots’ points all came from captain Colin Gregor who twice dived under the posts after working his way through the South Africa defence with some sensible decision making.
 
Scotland 7s head coach, Graham Shiel, said: “It’s so frustrating we have an inability to sustain the lead for long periods of time.
“There were so many good points in this match and the guys improved from their first game, but we still didn’t get the win.”
The South African scorers were Frankie Horne with two tries and Steven Hunt with a single touchdown. Their efforts were then complimented by Branco Du Preez who added two conversions.
Scotland will play their last pool match today against Russia at 5.53pm. 
Half-time: Scotland 7-12 South Africa
Full-time: Scotland 14-19 South Africa
Scotland 7s team: Scott Riddell, Michael Fedo, Colin Gregor (captain), Mark Robertson, Andrew Turnbull, Adam Ashe, Jim Thompson.
Replacements: Ross Miller, Sean Kennedy, Struan Dewar (for Adam Ashe), James Fleming (for Andrew Turnbull), John Houston (for Mark Robrtson).
South Africa team: Chris Dry, Frankie Horne, Cornal Hendricks, Kyle Brown, Branco Du Preez, Stephan Dippennar.
Replacements: Ryan Nell, Pieter Engelbrecht, Jambo Ulengo, Clayton Blommetjiies, Philip Burger.
 
Scotland 7s struggled to get their Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s campaign off to a good start with a 14-17 loss to Wales today at Scotstoun Stadium.
Two tries from James Fleming, converted by captain Colin Gregor, showed the Scots move the ball well and exploit the wide channels and with three minutes to go they were two points ahead.
 
However, Wales’ three tries from Ifan Evans, Lee Williams and Rhys Shellard tipped the balance in the visitors’ favour and despite Scotland winning a scrum with seconds to go they were unable to create anything and Wales forced the turnover to end the game.
Scotland 7s head coach, Graham Shiel, said: “We’re just disappointed, but this is the margins we’re dealing with and we have to get to the other side of them.”
The Scots now take on South Africa at 3.04pm. They must win their next two clashes in order to qualify for the Cup competition tomorrow.
Half-time: Scotland 7-12 Wales
Full-time: Scotland 12-14 Wales
Scotland 7s team: Struan Dewar, Scott Riddell, Michael Fedo, Sean Kennedy, Colin Gregor (captain), James Fleming, John Houston.
Replacements: Adam Ashe (for Struan Dewar), Ross Miller, Mark Robertson (for John Houston), Jim Thompson (for Sean Kennedy), Andrew Turnbull.
Wales 7s team: Lee Williams, Alex Walker, Ifan Evans, Rhys Shellard, Adam Thomas, Richard Smith, Craig Price.
Replacements: Tom Grabham, Rhys Jones, Dan Fish, Rhys Patchel, Sion Bennett.
 
Scotland 7s have won their final game of day one in the inaugural Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s, accounting for Russia 33-5 in a five try romp in the Glasgow sun.
It was a long awaited win but it gives them confidence moving into tomorrow’s Bowl competition, where they will play Kenya at 11.14am in pursuit of the silverware.
 
Scotland 7s head coach, Graham Shiel, said: “It’s nice to end the day with a victory against a team who have been very good today.
“We will now regroup, analyse our performances and hopefully come out tomorrow and post three good performances. We have recent knowledge of Kenya having played them in Tokyo. They will be tough though and we will have to be at our best to beat them.”
The match against the Russians started well with Ross Miller powering his way up the wing and scoring a try. He also scored in the second-half having been set up well by Sean Kennedy. Also on the score sheet for Scotland were John Houston, who scored with an obliterating sidestep, Michael Fedo, who touched down on the final whistle, and Andrew Turnbull who picked up a chip from Colin Gregor to dive in under the posts and score his 112th try for Scotland 7s on the IRB circuit. Gregor and Jim Thompson converted two tries each.
For Russia, Ilya Babev was the sole try scorer.
The Scots lost two of their three games today, both narrowly, having had the lead with minutes to go, but they simply could not deliver the clinical finish.
They lost to Wales, 14-17, and then South Africa, 14-19. James Fleming’s two tries in the former match and Colin Gregor’s in the latter were not enough to seal success on either occasion for the Scots in front of their home support. However, Cup qualification was no longer on the agenda when the final match against the Russians was won.
Shiel continued: “We had some good passages of play in all of the matches today but we were more polished in the last game. It’s been frustrating but we are in a brutal environment, where the smallest margins are detrimental and where any team can win or lose at any point.”
Half-time: Scotland 12-0 Russia
Full-time: Scotland 33-5 Russia
Scotland 7s team: Scott Riddell, Ross Miller, Sean Kennedy, Struan Dewar, Jim Thompson, James Fleming, John Houston.
Replacements: Michael Fedo (for John Houston), Colin Gregor (for Sean Kennedy), Andrew Turnbull (for James Fleming), Adam Ashe.
Russia team: Ivan Kotov, Ilya Babaev, Ramil Gaysin, Sergey Gavryushin, Nikolay Goroshilov, Igor Galinvoskiv, Yury Gostyuzhev.
Replacements: Vladimir Ostroushko, Stanislav Bondarev, Alexander Yanyuskin, Nikolay Zaporzhin, Andrey Otrokev.

This article was originally posted on 5-May-2012, 17:16 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 5-May-2012, 18:43.