Winning the Shield title at the IRB Sevens World Series event in Las Vegas, USA, did little to hide the disappointment of the Scotland 7s team today.
A victory over Chile (26-10) was preceded by defeats to Kenya (17-0) and eventual tournament winners Samoa (41-12) on day one to relegate the Scots into the Bowl competition on day two. But defeat at the hands of Argentina (14-7) meant that the Shield competition was their final destination.
Wins over Guyana (31-7) and Japan (17-7) sealed the title but the fourth tier competition is not enough to satisfy the ambitions of coach Stephen Gemmell.
Gemmell said: “It’s been a disappointing weekend. The reality is we’ve beaten Chile, Guyana and Japan and, with no disrespect, we should be beating them.”
He continued: “We finished below our seeding and that’s not where we want to be.
“It was nice to finish with a couple of wins, and we played some good rugby in the final, but we’re massively disappointed and winning a trophy is not going to hide that.”
Scotland’s only try against the Argentineans came from Colin Shaw. Craig Jackson adding the conversion.
In their second outing of the day, Scotland scored five tries through five different players. Jackson and Chris Kinloch kicked off proceedings with tries in the first half, Peter Jericevich converting the second.
Shaw, Lee Jones and David Tait all touched down in the second period, Jericevich converting two.
In the Shield final, a try from Tait, converted by Jericevich, ignited Scotland’s campaign, but that was soon cancelled out when Kaoru Matsushita touched down and Kenji Shomen added the extras.
In the early stages of the second half, a try brace from Jones and Kinloch were unanswered to ensure Scotland came home with some silverware.
Starting team v Argentina: Scott Forrest, Colin Shaw, Scott Riddell, Peter Jericevich, Duncan Weir, Chris Kinloch, Lee Jones
Starting team v Guyana: David Tait, Colin Shaw, Scott Riddell, Peter Jericevich, Craig Jackson, Chris Kinloch, Lee Jones
Starting team v Japan: David Tait, Colin Shaw, Scott Riddell, Peter Jericevich, Craig Jackson, Chris Kinloch, Lee Jones
Scotland 7s squad to compete at the IRB Sevens World Series events in Wellington (5 & 6 February) and Las Vegas (13 & 14 February): Scott Forrest* CAPTAIN, Steve Aitken (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby)**, Struan Dewar (Heriot’s)**, Craig Jackson (Melrose)**, Peter Jericevich (Glasgow Hawks)**, Lee Jones (Selkirk), Chris Kinloch (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Riddell (Blaydon), Colin Shaw*, David Tait (Sale Sharks), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Hawks)**

This article was posted on 15-Feb-2010, 11:28 by Hugh Barrow.