Kenya 17, Scotland 12

The Scotland 7s team lost their first game on day one of the Emirates Airline London Sevens against Kenya today.
Speaking after the first tie, Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell said: “We’re disappointed with how the game ended.
“We lost with the last touch of the ball against one of the top teams in the World Series this year. But we need to learn to win those games.
“It was encouraging, that with the last play of the game, we were kicking to the corner looking to have a go, but we need to keep a hold of the ball.
“In the first half, we dominated them physically in both attack and defence, but the specific fitness in sevens kicked-in a little bit with a number of our players.”
Happy with how Thom Evans and Ally Hogg contributed to the first match, Gemmell added: “We know they are quality rugby players. I’m delighted Ally fronted up, I knew he would do, and Thom has learned that players will chase you down at this level. But to be fair, Thom chased down others as well.”
Tries from Mike Adamson and Colin Gregor gave Scotland a well deserved 12-point half-time lead.
With two minutes on the clock, Thom Evans scooped up a chip ahead. The Scotland internationalist burned up the left wing only to be brought down short of the line.
A knock-on gave Kenya a scrum ten yards from their line. However, with Adamson menacing around the back, he pinched the scrum-halves pass towards clearing kicker and touched down in the corner. Gregor slotted the most difficult of conversions as he hugged the touchline.
Kenya found themselves a man down through injury which opened a gap in midfield. Ally Hogg skipped through the gap and offloaded to Gregor in support who crossed the line.
Half-time score: Kenya 0, Scotland 12
The second half saw Kenya gradually make their way into the contest.
An early try from Humphrey Kayange shook the Scots and it was shortly followed up by a score from the top try scorer in the 2008/09 IRB Sevens World Series, Collins Injera.
Sidney Ashioya slipped out of the tackle from Andrew Turbull and, in a one-on-one with Colin Gregor, he offloaded to Injera who touched down. Biko Adema added the extras.
With the scores level, it was up to Scotland to dig deep and take control of the game once more.
Colin Gregor sent a penalty on half-way into touch to give Scotland a line-out little over 22-metres from the Kenyan line.
The Scots won their own ball and the final hooter sounded as it was spun wide. A knock-on from Turnbull conceded possession and Kenya gradually made their way upfield.
A gaping hole appeared in midfield and Kayange found his way to the line, beating Gregor for pace.
Gemmell concluded: “We’ve still got a massive challenge coming up against Fiji and we need to move on very quickly from that first game and meet them head-on.”
Scotland 7s team v Kenya: Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Thom Evans (Glasgow Warriors)
Replacements: Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh) for Evans, Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors) for Hogg and Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors) for Forrest
Scotland 7s squad to compete at the final two events on the IRB Sevens World Series in London (23 and 24 May) and Edinburgh (30 and 31 May): Scott Forrest (Ayr)* CAPTAIN, Mike Adamson (Glasgow Warriors), Thom Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Roddy Grant (West of Scotland)*, Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors), Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh)
* = Member of Scottish Rugby’s Contracted National Academy
London Pool C: Fiji, Kenya, USA, Scotland
Scotland 7s’ Pool C fixtures on day one (Saturday 23 May) of the Emirates Airline London Sevens: Kenya v Scotland (kick-off 12:41pm), Fiji v Scotland (kick-off 3:25pm), USA v Scotland (6:21pm)

This article was posted on 23-May-2009, 13:55 by Hugh Barrow.