Glasgow Warriors winger Hefin O’Hare and Edinburgh fullback Calum MacRae have been called-up to the Scotland 7s squad for the next two tournaments on the IRB Sevens World Series in Hong Kong (27-29 March) and Adelaide (3-5 April).
O’Hare, who has played for the Warriors since 2005, will make his Scotland representative debut having qualified through residency.
Looking forward to playing in the blue of Scotland, O’Hare said: “It was fantastic to get the call-up to the Scotland 7s squad. They made a great finish to the World Cup Sevens and it’s a real honour for me to be involved.
“Qualifying to play for Scotland has been in the back of my mind the past few years and it’ll be a great feeling to finally pull on that blue jersey.”
MacRae, product of Melrose RFC - the birthplace of the sevens game, will return to the city where he last competed for Scotland 7s at the 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
On the two new recruits, Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell said: “Hefin has always been an exciting player with Glasgow, he has a real cutting edge, and this is a fantastic opportunity to play for Scotland in a big tournament. Calum [MacRae] is an experienced guy. He’s coming back from injury and this is a great opportunity for him to get back playing again.”
Seven of the twelve players that competed at this year’s Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai retain their place whilst Graham Hogg, Jamie Hunter and Chris Kinloch are amongst the five new faces.
Speaking about his fully assembled squad, Gemmell continued: “It’s good to have some continuity having finished so well at the World Cup.
“Jamie Hunter and Graham Hogg are coming back with a point to prove having not been involved at the World Cup.
“It’s a strong squad but we are under no illusions of the task ahead.”
Having recovered from defeat in their opening game of the World Cup, Gemmell is now seeking further improvement as the squad look to re-establish continuity in their performances.
“We finished ninth at the World Cup and we want to improve on that, however, there’s no easy draw. We can take confidence from the fact we have beaten all the teams in both our draws in previous encounters.
“Looking ahead to Hong Kong, USA will be disappointed after their World Cup performance and Kenya are up there in the top five this year. We’ve less experience of playing against the West Indies, but we did come up against them in San Diego two years ago. We’re taking no-one lightly.”
Hong Kong Pool F: Kenya, USA, Scotland, West Indies
Scotland 7s’ Pool F fixtures at the IRB Hong Kong Sevens (27-29 March):
Day 1 – Scotland v USA, kick-off 7:10pm HKT, 11:10am GMT
Day 2 – Kenya v Scotland, kick-off 12:42pm HKT, 4:42am GMT
Day 2 – Scotland v West Indies, kick-off 2:54pm HKT, 6:54am GMT
Adelaide Pool B: Argentina, Fiji, France, Scotland
Scotland 7s’ Pool B fixtures at the IRB Adelaide Sevens (3-5 April):
Day 1 – Fiji v Scotland, kick-off 6:58pm CST, 7:58am GMT
Day 2 – Argentina v Scotland, kick-off 1:43pm CST, 2:43am GMT
Day 2 – France v Scotland, kick-off 4:10pm CST, 5:10am GMT
Scotland 7s squad (sponsor Murray) to compete at the IRB Sevens World Series events in Hong Kong (27-29 March) and Adelaide (3-5 April): Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Graham Hogg (Hawick)*, Jamie Hunter (West of Scotland)*, Rory Hutton (Hawick)*, Chris Kinloch (Glasgow Warriors), Calum MacRae (Edinburgh), Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Riddell (Blaydon), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh)

This article was posted on 16-Mar-2009, 21:56 by Hugh Barrow.