Australia 17 Scotland 21
Gutsy Scotland lifted the Plate title at the Rugby World Cup 7s in Dubai tonight in a close-fought win over Australia.
After the huge disappointment of losing to Canada in their opening pool game – a result which effectively knocked Scotland out of the Cup competition – it was a fine fightback which saw Stephen Gemmell’s team collect silverware in front of 35,000 spectators.


Scotland played some intelligent rugby throughout today in Dubai, seeing off France (21-19) and Portugal (29-7) en route to facing the Wallabies in the Plate final.
After the final, Scotland coach Stephen Gemmell said: “Credit to the boys. They played well today. We came into what was pretty much a new tournament today, which we wanted to win and we’ve done that.
“Bar five minutes against Canada on Thursday we showed we can compete against the best and there’s no reason why we cannot sit at the top table with some of these bigger teams.
“I’m not saying ninth (in the final rankings) is where we want to be, but we had to come out and front up after the disappointment of the first game and the boys have done that.
“This is a proud moment for me and hopefully a proud moment for everyone else in Scotland and Scottish Rugby.”
Scotland’s Minister for Public Health and Sport Shona Robison MSP, who was in Dubai supporting the Scots, added: “That was a wonderful victory for Scotland. All the players and the management deserve this success for their dedication and their hard work.
“I’m looking forward to supporting the Scotland team throughout the rest of the IRB World 7s Series and I’ll be there to cheer them on once again when they return to Edinburgh at the end of May for the Emirates Airline tournament at Murrayfield.”
Scottish Rugby’s Chief Executive Gordon McKie echoed the minister’s comments. “Stephen Gemmell and his players were a credit to Scotland today. They put in a terrific performance to emerge with silverware.”
In the Plate final, Scotland opened the scoring through Andrew Turnbull who was once again on sizzling form out on the wing, after his try hat-trick in the Plate semi-final triumph over Portugal.
From an Australian kick-off, Scotland received the ball inside their own 22 and began to build their attack. As they continued through the phases, with Roddy Grant threatening on the right, the Scots sent the ball out to Turnbull who evaded his opposite man to touch down close enough to the posts for Colin Gregor to add the conversion.
Australia fought back immediately scooping the ball off the deck, following a grubber kick-off from Gregor which failed to reach the required 10-metres.
Ed Jenkins burst through and the conversion was successful from Richard Kingi and the score was level.
Scotland edged in front just before half-time as Jim Thompson released Turnbull who sent a little grubber past his opposite man and beat him for pace before collecting and touching down out wide. Gregor struck a superb conversion.
Half-time: Australia 7 Scotland 14
Australia almost came back straight from the restart as they worked an overlap out wide. Despite handing off Turnbull on the wing, Luke Morahan, couldn’t regain his balance and was deemed to have put a foot in touch – a close call for the Scots.
Suitably heartened, Mike Adamson and Thompson linked up nicely in midfield to free up Grant who burned in from distance for a lung-bursting effort to stretch the Scots’ lead. Gregor converted.
Scotland then survived a late surge from Australia as Jono Jenkins claimed their second try. Jenkins was chased by Roland Reid, but with superior pace, Jenkins wasn’t to be caught.
Damon Murphy had the final word. On a one-on-one with Turnbull he had significant size advantage to fend off the winger and touch down.
Full-time: Australia 17 Scotland 21
As a result of Scotland’s plate success, they finished ninth overall at the Rugby World 7s 2009.
Scotland 7s team v Australia: Scott Forrest, Roddy Grant, Roland Reid, Mike Adamson, Colin Gregor, Jim Thompson, Andrew Turnbull. Subs used: Colin Shaw and Scott Riddell

Scotland 7s squad to compete at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai from 5-7 March: Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors) CAPTAIN, Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Rob Dewey (Ulster), Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Scott Forrest (Ayr)*, Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Rory Hutton (Hawick)*, Roland Reid (Edinburgh), Scott Riddell (Blaydon), Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), James Thompson (Edinburgh), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh)

This article was posted on 7-Mar-2009, 18:34 by Hugh Barrow.