Scotland 7s entered their first cup quarter final of the season today at the IRB Hong Kong Sevens, playing with guts and determination but just couldn’t quite match the power and pace of Fiji who won 26-12, ending Scotland’s progression in the tournament.

The two teams last met at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne when Fiji dominated 33-7 so the Scots knew they were up against stiff opposition. Fiji finished comfortable winners of their group stage, while Scotland gained the last cup place on points difference to progress to the quarter finals yesterday thanks to a 33-7 win over Japan and an 82-0 hammering of Singapore.

Scotland coach Rob Moffat was satisfied. He said: “We played a lot better than we did last night. We didn’t play well against New Zealand and we let ourselves down but we came out today and played better and I don’t think there was much between the two teams.”

Scotland got off to a great start and were the first to score through Ali Warnock after Dave Callam picked up a lose-ball allowing the gap to appeared for Warnock to touch down just left of the posts before adding the conversion.

Fiji stayed calm and slowly moved the ball into their offensive half with Scotland working hard to shut them down but the strength of Fiji proved decisive in the fourth minute as Filimoni Bolavucu skipped through a tackle to bring them back into the match at 7-5 for the Scots.

Possession was fairly equal between the two teams with the crowd roaring into life at any hint of a break away. The crucial score before the break went to the match favourites Fiji, after a pass from Ciaran Beattie was intercepted by Waisale Serevi for an easy run-in and a 12-7 lead.

Scott Forrest and Matt Coupar came onto the field for Callam and Colin Gregor respectively in the second half and looked to add to the attacking focus of the team. They quickly joined the hard defensive work of the others as Fiji got into a rhythm that was proving hard to upset. Their third try came two minutes after the break when the Scots tried to run the ball from their own line but were put under huge pressure.

Scotland never gave up pulled things back as the clock had less than two minutes remaining, after their best phase of play saw the forwards draw defenders in on the 22, giving them room to move the ball wide to Andrew Turnbull, who turned on the gas and snuck into the left corner, giving the fans some hope with just seven points in it.

Moffat felt it was a close match. He said: “We were competitive and if we’d won the re-start at 19-12, who knows what could have happened.”

The ball didn’t come their way at the re-start and with 10 seconds left, Fiji wrapped things up when Jone Daunivucu’s chip-and-chase took him under the posts and the conversion ended the match 26-12.

Scotland can leave Hong Kong feeling positive about their performance and look ahead to Singapore with promise.

“We were in the cup and that’s good. Being in the top 8 and is what it’s all about for us,” added Moffat. “It’s Singapore next week and we’ve got South Africa and Argentina in our pool [plus Hong Kong] so we’ll be looking to beat one of them. That won’t be easy but that’s what we’ll go for.”

The 30th anniversary of the Hong Kong Sevens certainly didn’t disappoint the players or supporters, as the tournament goes from strength to strength each year. Moffat clearly enjoys the competition.

He said: “Hong Kong has everything that sport is all about. It’s about top level competition which you get here and it’s such a lot of fun. It’s a fantastic event and it’s a privilege coming here.

Play-maker Ali Warnock summed up the feelings of his team. He said: “All 12 in the squad this week were confident they could do something here in Hong Kong and we qualified for the cup so that was great but just frustrating to come away with a loss.

“It was disappointing because we thought we had a really good chance of beating Fiji, one of the best chances we’ve had. It’s my first time in Hong Kong and it’s been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. We showed that we can compete and we’ll take that onto Singapore.”

SCOTLAND 7s: Mark Lee * (King’s Own Scottish Borderers) CAPTAIN, Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Gunners and Stewart’s Melville FP), Colin Gregor * (Glasgow Warriors and Watsonians), Ali Warnock * (Nottingham), Dave Callam * (Edinburgh Gunners), Andrew Turnbull * (Watsonians) and Nick De Luca * (Edinburgh Gunners).
Subs: Ciaran Beattie (Border Reivers and Selkirk) for De Luca; Matt Coupar (Edinburgh Academicals) for Gregor; Scott Forrest (Glasgow Warriors and Glasgow Hawks) for Callam; Clark Laidlaw * (Jed-Forest) and Oli Brown * (Boroughmuir).

This article was posted on 2-Apr-2006, 11:26 by Hugh Barrow.