Scotland will go into the 2013 Rugby Sevens World Cup qualifiers as the 7th seeded European team, after a disappointing finish to the Odense 7s in Denmark today.
The Scots enjoyed a bright start to the tournament yesterday, topping their group with a clean sweep of day-one wins over hosts Denmark, Germany and series leaders England to make the cup quarter-finals.
However they could not recapture that form in the day-two knock-out rounds, slipping to three straight defeats to Wales, Georgia and Russia, to finish 8th in the tournament and 7th overall in the FIRA-AER GP European Sevens Series.
Head coach Graham Shiel, said: “We had a disappointing day today after such a positive start to the tournament.
“We didn’t start well against Wales and struggled for possession, coughed up ball too easily and couldn’t produce a performance to cause teams real problems, which made for a frustrating day overall.”
In the cup quarter-final the Scots were bested at the breakdown, allowing their Welsh opponents to control possession, which ultimately paved the way for the five tries to two scoreline that sent Scotland into the semi-final of the second-tier Plate competition (31-14).
A closely fought battle with an impressive Georgian side followed, and featured a trio of tit-for-tat scores, however a missed conversion was the difference between the sides at the hooter, as Scotland were edged 21-19.
With the chance at silverware gone, Scotland faced Russia for the 7th/8th place playoff and were made to chase the game throughout after Perov Dmitry opened the scoring and Michael Fedo [pictured] drew level on the stroke of half-time (7-7).
Another two Russian tries made life difficult for the Scots and, while Byron McGuigan pulled back a consolation, there was no time left to mount a fight back (12-21).
The Scotland 7s team will now regroup and prepare for the Rugby World Cup qualifiers in Portugal in a fortnight’s time.
Sheil added: “We now have two weeks to reflect on this tournament and how challenging this environment can be. We need to dust  ourselves down, physically recover and sharpen our minds as we approach the crucial Rugby Sevens World Cup qualifiers.”
Day one try scorers:
v Denmark: McGuigan (x2), Fleming, Shaw, Thompson, Turnbull, Weir
v Germany: Riddell (x2), Turnbull
v England: Fedo, Thompson, Turnbull (x2)
Day two try scorers:
Cup QF v Wales: Maltman, Fleming
Plate SF v Georgia: Shaw, McGuigan, Turnbull
7/8th place playoff: Fedo, McGuigan
Scotland 7s team: Michael Fedo (Team Northumbria), Struan Dewar (Scotland 7s), Michael Maltman (Scotland 7s), Rory Hughes (Scotland 7s EDP/Glasgow Hawks), Scott Riddell (Stewart’s Melville) (captain), Colin Shaw (Scotland 7s), Jack Ferguson (Watsonians), Russell Weir (Scotland 7s), Jim Thompson (London Scottish), Byron McGuigan (Glasgow Warriors), James Fleming (Scotland 7s), Andrew Turnbull (Scotland 7s)

This article was posted on 8-Jul-2012, 18:45 by Hugh Barrow.