MIKE Adamson, the former Scotland rugby sevens international turned referee, has been appointed to all nine tournaments in the 2014-15 HSBC Sevens World Series.

The ex-Glasgow Warriors and Glasgow Hawks player has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the ranks after swapping participation for officiating.

He’ll now get the chance to impress further when the international tournament begins in Australia’s Gold Coast on October 11th.

“When I was chatting with Andy Macpherson (Scottish Rugby’s referee development manager) about starting as a referee last Christmas we talked about goals and what I wanted to achieve,” revealed Adamson.

“Sevens was one of my goals, especially with the admission of sevens to the 2016 Olympics in Rio but we weren’t sure if I’d have enough time.

“Getting the two tournaments at the end of last season’s World Series (at Scotstoun and Twickenham) has definitely helped to propel me up towards that category.

“Your decision-making, similar to playing, has to be really quick particularly around the tackle and contact area. In sevens you would penalise (at contact) as the penalty is the advantage. In XVs you’ll see a situation of slow ball from contact, whereas slow ball would most likely never be an advantage in sevens.”

Tappe Henning, Scottish Rugby’s referee commissioner, weighed in with some praise of the fresh faced official.

He said: “Mike has worked very hard to be named on this panel. He has a real understanding of sevens, taking the experiences he gleaned from his playing days.

“We will give him every support to realise his ambition of progressing to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.”

This article was originally posted on 5-Aug-2014, 20:30 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 5-Aug-2014, 20:31.