Friday, 06 March 2009
South Africa 7s 19, Scotland 7s 14
Scotland 7s’ hopes of competing in the Cup competition at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai were dashed today as they lost out to South Africa in an extremely close encounter.

South Africa 7s 19, Scotland 7s 14
Scotland 7s’ hopes of competing in the Cup competition at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai were dashed today as they lost out to South Africa in an extremely close encounter.
After the game, coach Stephen Gemmell said: “The boys played outstandingly well and showed just what Scotland 7s is all about. It’s just a shame that there’s now that Scottish mentality of reflecting on what might have been.
“That game didn’t cost us the World Cup, the first seven minutes against Canada did.”
In a match which was decided with a try in extra time, the Scots showed great passion and determination as they continued to build on their convincing win over Japan earlier in the day, ultimately standing toe-to-toe with one of the best sevens sides in the world.
The game started at a frenetic pace with South Africa surviving some early Scottish pressure. Vuyo Zangqa dealt the initial blow as he crossed first for the Springboks.
Paul Delport was next to find the whitewash as the South Africans sought to maintain their 100% record in the tournament so far.
Scotland kept their nerve and came back to within a converted score when Andrew Turnbull found the try line. Gregor converted.
Half-time score: South Africa 7s 14, Scotland 7s 7
The Scots started the second period looking very bright and strong at the contact area.
Some good interlinking play was once again the key to Scotland’s attack as replacement Roddy Grant crossed for a nicely worked try wide of the posts. Gregor slotted the high pressure kick to level the scores with only 40 seconds remaining on the clock.
South Africa mounted the pressure back on Scotland out wide where both sides engaged in a real dog-fight for possession.
Shortly after the fulltime hooter had sounded, South Africa broke free and their captain Mpho Mbiyozo touched down in the corner to bring an end to what was an intensely close affair.
Full-time score: South Africa 7s 19, Scotland 7s 14
Scotland 7s team v South Africa: Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Forrest (Ayr)*, Roland Reid (Edinburgh), Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), CAPTAIN, Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh)
Substitutes: Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)* for Shaw and Andrew Easson (Edinburgh) for Thompson

This article was posted on 6-Mar-2009, 21:35 by Hugh Barrow.