Colin "the budgie" Gregor who toured with Hawks in South Africa in 03 is in the Scotlands Sevens Squad for NZ and US of A


MOFFAT LOOKS TO EXPERIENCE FOR NZ AND USA SEVENS
Posted: 16/Jan/06
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Scotland 7s coach Rob Moffat has named an experienced squad for next month’s IRB Sevens tournaments in Wellington, New Zealand and Los Angeles, USA. The squad includes Scotland’s two most capped sevens players as well as two new additions from the professional ranks and BT Premiership Division One.

Edinburgh Gunners’ scrum half Rory Lawson will play in his first IRB Sevens tournament ahead of the Commonwealth Games, for which he is selected, as will Melrose winger Mark Robertson, son of 43 times capped international Keith, with the knowledge that the twelfth man spot for that tournament in Melbourne, Australia is still to be decided.

The Army’s Mark Lee will lead the squad with former captain David Gray returning having taken some time away from international sevens to concentrate on his new strength and conditioning role with the Exeter Chiefs in England’s National League Division One.

With 45 sevens caps between the pair, Lee and Gray are joined by sevens stalwarts Oli Brown, Clark Laidlaw and Colin Gregor as well as promising young talent in the shape of Ross Rennie, Rob Dewey, Ciaran Beattie and Nick De Luca.

Moffat said: “It is good to have a very experienced squad for the next two tournaments and a squad that is very close to the one that will represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March.

“The squad we took to Dubai and George in December tried very hard but the emphasis was towards youth and inexperience. They performed well at times but we need to play with consistency if we are to progress to the knockout stages of the cup competition.

“Preparations for the Commonwealth Games are very important but these are big tournaments in their own right and we are keen to produce results. We want to get back to a situation where we are competing for the cup as we did last year rather than the bowl. We were consistent finishers in the top eight last season and we want to return to that level if not exceed it,” he added.

In Wellington (3 and 4 February) Scotland face England, Australia and Papua New Guinea before heading to Los Angeles where they will take on Fiji, Argentina and Uruguay.

On the opposition Scotland will face next month Moffat said: “We beat England in Wellington last year and against Australia we only lost by a single point (29-28) in South Africa recently. We don’t feel like we are going in as underdogs in Wellington and we fully intend to qualify for the cup.

“In Dubai in December we lost in the last minute to Argentina as well as drawing 33-33 at Murrayfield in November. We look forward to making amends for this in Los Angeles. Our squad is excited about the challenges ahead and with the Commonwealth Games coming up there is an added edge,” he added.

On the inclusion of Mark Robertson, Moffat said: “He is having a very good season at Melrose and they have done an excellent job in his development as a player. They’ll be very happy and proud at how he has come on. He’s a talented athlete and he has trained very hard with the sevens squad this season.”

SCOTLAND 7s SQUAD

Mark Lee * (The Army) CAPTAIN, David Gray * (Exeter Chiefs), Rob Dewey * (Edinburgh Gunners), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Gunners and Stewart’s Melville FP), Oli Brown * (Boroughmuir), Ciaran Beattie (Border Reivers and Selkirk), Mark Robertson (Melrose), Colin Gregor * (Glasgow Warriors and Watsonians), Rory Lawson * (Edinburgh Gunners), Ali Warnock * (Nottingham), Clark Laidlaw * (Jed-Forest), Nick De Luca * (Edinburgh Gunners and Heriot’s)

* indicates member of the Scottish Institute of Sport

This article was posted on 16-Jan-2006, 16:12 by Hugh Barrow.