A squad of current Scotland 7s internationalists and future prospects will travel from the home of rugby sevens, Scotland, to the home of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi, this weekend (Sunday 4 October) for a week-long intensive training camp one year out from the tournament.
“It’s a statement of intent about how seriously we’re taking sevens,” said Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell.
“We’ve contracted three fulltime sevens players and now we are holding a week’s training camp exactly one year out from the Commonwealth Games.”
The squad will be based at Delhi University, the venue of rugby sevens at next year’s Games. They will train against members of the Indian national team, play against local sides and receive specialist coaching focussed on personal as well as team development.
As a result of the camp, which is being supported by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, sportscotland and the institute (formerly known as the Scottish Institute of Sport), rugby sevens will become the first sport to undertake such an exercise as the country gears up for the Delhi Games which precedes the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“It will give us an invaluable opportunity to experience the conditions and familiarise ourselves with the surroundings,” Gemmell continued.
“We will be travelling with GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) equipment, which we have never used before, to gather useful data which will be utilised not only in the build-up to the IRB Sevens World Series, but also the Commonwealth Games in a year’s time.
“The GPS equipment will be worn during training and in live games and we will measure the impact that travel times, training and competitive matches have on the players.”
The only member of the 12-man squad that is not a fulltime Scotland 7s player, or contracted to Scottish Rugby’s National Academy, is 21-year-old Selkirk winger, Lee Jones.
Speaking about Jones’ inclusion, Selkirk backs coach, Michael Jaffray, said: “Lee has a future in the game at a level higher than he is currently playing so we’re not going to hold him back.
“We want him to get as much out of the game as possible so the whole club is fully behind him.
“He works hard and is dedicated so I feel that the kind of attitude he has shown towards this club has to be rewarded.
“He’s been a shining light for us in every game he’s played so, although he will be a loss to us, we have to be fair to Lee. He’s given a lot to this club so it’s fitting that we let him go to repay all the hard work he’s put in.”
Scotland 7s’ 12-man squad to participate in a week-long training camp in Delhi (Sunday 4 to Sunday 11 October): Mike Adamson*, Grant Anderson (Ayr)**, Tom Brown (Edinburgh Accies)**, Tom Bury (Boroughmuir)**, Struan Dewar (Heriot’s)**, Michael Doneghan (Stewart’s Melville)**, Scott Forrest*, Peter Jericevich (Glasgow Hawks)**, Lee Jones (Selkirk), Stuart McInally (Watsonians)**, Neil Rodger (Haddington)**, Colin Shaw*

This article was posted on 2-Oct-2009, 14:00 by Hugh Barrow.