Scotland. 19 Canada 17

Monday, 11 October 2010

Turbull scores Scotland's third
Scotland 7s secured their place in the  day-two medal race for the first time with a 19-17 win over Canada in the Delhi Commonwealth Games today.
The Scots endured an early scare but ran in two tries, from wing Lee Jones, to Canada’s one in the first-half.
A wonderful second-half try from Andrew Turnbull put some breathing space between the sides but two late tries from the Canadians ensured a tense end to the match.
Scotland were clearly opting for a more patient approach to their play early on but put pressure on themselves when a long pass from Jones just avoided a Canadian interception as Scotland knocked on.
The Canadians powered forward to the try-line from the resulting scrum and Scotland needed a superb try-saving tackle from stand-off Mike Adamson, which saw the ball spilled inches from the deck in the in-goal area, to keep the Canadians at bay.
From the try-line Scotland battered into the resolute Canadian defense until Turnbull got sight of the slightest of gaps and broke free up to half-way.
Turnbull then handed off the last tackler and offloaded to the supporting Lee Jones who was clean though to score.
Adamson converted, 7-0.
Scotland continued their pressure with a good restart and won a penalty from the resulting contact area.
Scott Newlands took it quick and, with little on, sent the ball out to Jones who set off on an long arcing run out wide, rounding the last man to score a great solo try.
Adamson’s conversion attempt rebounded off the post, 12-0.
Disappointing for Scotland was that they couldn’t see out the rest of the half without conceding, as Canada’s direct approach saw them crash over for the converted score, seconds after the half-time siren, 12-7.
HALF TIME: 12-7
The second-half began with lots of aggression shown in contact from both teams before the ball found the hands of Turnbull once more.
Fantastic footwork saw the pocket rocket dance between three defenders in close quarters at the near-side touchline to break free and sprint in under the posts.
Adamson added the extras once more, 19-7.
Despite the breathing space in the score Scotland had to endure a nervy end to the match as Canada fought back with two tries in quick succession.
The first came from an overlap created out wide and the second from the resulting restart.
Fortunately, with the tries forced out wide, both conversion attempts were missed and the Scots won the right to compete for a medal in the day-two knockout stage, with New Zealand still to play to determine pool winners and quarter-final oponents.
FULL TIME: 19-7
Scotland 7s team v Canada
Colin Shaw, Scott Forest, Scott Riddell, Lee Jones, Mike Adamson, John Houston, Andrew Turnbull

This article was originally posted on 11-Oct-2010, 08:00 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 11-Oct-2010, 11:18.