SCOTLAND LOSE OUT TO BOKS IN PLATE SEMI
Posted: 25/May/08
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Scotland were knocked out of the plate semi final in the penultimate leg of the IRB international 7s series at Twickenham by a clinical South Africa.

A single unconverted try was all that separated the sides at the final whistle in a game that Scotland threatened to snatch at the death.

The Adelaide champions were first on the scoreboard when a well weighted cross field kick was collected out wide before being popped back inside to the supporting Juries to run in the try. Zangqa converted before adding an unconverted try moments later, 0-12.

Scotland got their first score when Edinburgh's Greig Laidlaw spun full circle in the Springboks 22 as he scanned the field for passing options before cutting a magnificent diagonal through midfield and picking out Adamson from two supporting players out wide to score. Gregors missed conversion meant a converted try separated the sides at the interval.

Half time: 5-12

Scotland started the second half positively winning a scrum against the head much to the adulation of the London crowd before putting a cross field kick into the hands of Turnbull who was just caught just short of the 5m line.

However the Scot's resurgent attempts were dampened when a South African pass found series top point scorer, Juries, who sprinted clean through to score his second of the match. Zangqa added the extras to put South Africa two scores ahead with three and a half minutes to go, 5-19.

Despite the deficit Scotland continued to threaten and an excellent solo effort from Colin Shaw saw the powerful Warriors player run from inside his own half along the touchline, repeatedly fending off the attempted challenges from Juries before skipping a last gasp challenge to cross the line between the posts.

Gregor converted to put the game within reach but the South Africans carefully ran out the clock making it the second successive painful defeat for the Scots.

Full time: 12-19.

"Ive said all season that were good enough to be at that top table in international 7s, but were massively disappointed - part of being there is that you have to win those games.

Im sure that tomorrow the guys will wake up and still feel disappointed but we need to get over that because I dont accept us being close runners up and I dont think the players do either. But we have to take the disappointment and turn that into pride and turn it into learning lessons and improved performances."

Scotland 7s next match is at the home of Scottish Rugby in the final leg of the Emirates Airline 7s at Murrayfield on May 31 and June 1 where they face South Africa, Argentina and Australia.


Scotland 1st VII
1 Scott Forrest CAPTAIN
6 Chris Fusaro
8 Colin Gregor
9 Mike Adamson
10 Greig Laidlaw
11 Andrew Turnbull
12 Richie Vernon

Replacements
3 Stevie Lawrie
4 Grant Anderson
2 Colin Shaw
7 Ben Addison
5 Jim Thompson

South Africa 1st VII
10 Fabian Juries
4 Vuyo Zangqa
5 Nell Powell
6 Schalk van der Merwe
7 kabamba Floors
8 Stefan Basson
9 Danwel Demas

Replcements
11 M. J Mentz
12 Norman Nelson
1 Mpho Mblyozo
2 Gio Aplon
3 Frankie Horne

This article was posted on 25-May-2008, 18:00 by Hugh Barrow.