FOUR-TRY SCOTS OVERCOME GUYANA IN DELHI OPENER
Monday, 11 October 2010

Scotland 7s ran in four tries to beat Guyana 26-0 in their opening game of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi this morning.
In a sticky first-half an aggressive Guyanan defense made it difficult for Scotland to establish a controlled platform to attack - a late score from Lee Jones all that separated the sides at the break.
However a more composed Scottish outfit took to the field after the break and ran in three further tries - Jones completing his hat-trick with two fine efforts.
Scotland 7s head coach, Stephen Gemmell, said: “We were a bit nervy to begin with and weren’t coming on to the ball hard enough. The Guyanans have real pace and that caused us problems but in the second- half we got some shape to our game and did we what we came here to do which was get a win to put us in the position we wanted to be in going into the second game against Canada.”
Scotland’s first real chance came at the mid-way point of the first-half when top try-scorer Andrew Turnbull broke through and offloaded off the deck to the supporting Lee Jones who knocked on with the try-line at his mercy.
Clearly encouraged by their start, Guyana battled back against the Scots. A long offload from a tackle on the Scotland 22 was caught and chipped through but dotted down by Scotland to end the threat.
Of concern for Scotland that there was still no scoring with a minute left in the half however Jones made amends for his early mistake to break through and score under the posts. Adamson converted and the half-time siren was sounded.
HALF TIME: 7-0
Scotland showed a lot more width in second-half but it was the directness of Scott Newlands that created their second score.
Taking two tacklers with him, Newlands stayed big, spun and offloaded to the supporting captain Scott Forest who was clean through for the score. Adamson added the extras, 14-0.
With breathing space created in the scoring Scotland settled down into a rhythm and controlled the remainder of the match with a further two scores from Jones – the first a product of a lovely show and go before he gassed though, the second incorporated a great use of the stiff-arm to squeeze between the two outside defenders and bolt through.
Adamson’s missed conversion at the death mattered not as the game was won.
FULL TIME: 26-0
Seeded eighth in the tournament by the IRB, Scotland will now face World Series regulars Canada, and defending Games' champions and top seeds, New Zealand.
Speaking ahead of the Canada game, Gemmell added: “Were going to have to be more effective against Canada, we need to win ball and apply pressure with possession.”
Starting Scotland 7s team v Guyana
Scott Forest, Scott Riddell, Scott Newlands, Mike Adamson, Andrew Turnbull, John Houston, Lee Jones

This article was posted on 11-Oct-2010, 06:58 by Hugh Barrow.