Having won the Shield title at the NZI New Zealand Sevens last weekend, the Scotland 7s squad are now in San Diego, USA, for the fourth leg of the IRB Sevens Series and the last tournament before the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai next month.

Of their journey to San Diego, Gemmell said: “Due to the time differences, we left Wellington on Monday afternoon and arrived in San Diego on Monday morning.

“Most of the guys slept well on the flight, but some had disturbed sleep on Monday night, but in saying that, it’s the same for all the other teams.

“These are factors that we have no control over, we just need to ensure that we maximise the factors that we do have control over.

“We had our first training session in San Diego yesterday and worked on a number of areas that we had identified as requiring improvement after Wellington.”

The main area Gemmell is targeting is the contact area as the Scots aim to increase their involvement in the top competitions.

“It’s important we improve our first-up defence and make sure we get opposition players immediately to deck in order to nullify any attacking threat.

“No-one’s getting carried away with what happened last weekend as we’d much rather compete in the top competitions rather than the Shield.”

Although further improvements are required, Gemmell is encouraged by the team’s progress at the New Zealand Sevens and is hoping they can take their winning edge into the top competitions as they approach the World Cup.

“The encouraging thing from last weekend was finishing with two wins.

“We’ve improved since Dubai and George but we still have plenty work to do.

“Having shown some progress in Wellington by competing against the big countries, we now have to prove we can do it more consistently.”

Although improvements for the squad as a whole will be vital, individual performances will also be scrutinised as each player will hope to stake a claim for a World Cup jersey whilst Gemmell is also presented with a final opportunity to take a look at his charges in action before the pinnacle event of world rugby sevens.

“USA is the last opportunity for teams to put the finishing touches to their performances in a competitive environment before the World Cup.

“The World Cup is a unique event, which only comes around every four years, so the players are well aware that this is a special opportunity to stake a claim for a World Cup jersey.

“It’s important for us as a country that we continue to improve and go into the World Cup with some momentum.”

The Scots open their USA campaign against the Auld Enemy, a fixture that needs little introduction to Gemmell nor his squad.

“Any game Scotland plays against England it’s a special occasion.

“England showed their ability to seal games when they came from behind against New Zealand when the game looked dead and buried.

“However, I believe we have a game that can cause most sides cause for concern.

“Our final game against Japan will be an interesting one as we have them in our group at the World Cup. They won the Asia qualifier and pushed really hard during the Hong Kong Sevens last year.

“We’ll certainly not be underestimating them. They will be using the USA tournament as preparation for the World Cup where we have them in our group.

“The results last weekend showed that there are no easy games.”

Scotland 7s’ day one (Saturday 14 February) fixtures at the IRB USA Sevens in San Diego, USA:
England v Scotland – 10:02am local time, 6:02pm GMT
Samoa v Scotland – 1:16pm local time, 9:16pm GMT
Scotland v Japan – 3:42pm local time, 11:42pm GMT

Scotland 7s squad (sponsor Murray) for the IRB Sevens World Series tournament in San Diego, USA: Colin Gregor (captain, Glasgow Warriors), Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Graham Hogg (Hawick)*, Jamie Hunter (West of Scotland)*, Rory Hutton (Hawick)*, Roland Reid (Edinburgh), Scott Riddell (Blaydon)+, Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), Marc Teague (Edinburgh), Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors)

This article was originally posted on 12-Feb-2009, 23:01 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 12-Feb-2009, 23:03.