Scotland 7s head coach Graham Shiel today selected a mixture of fresh and familiar faces for the fifth and sixth legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Hong Kong and Adelaide.
The Scots will take on Tonga, Mexico and defending tournament and Series champions, Samoa, in Pool C of the 24-team Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens which kicks off next weekend (25-27 March).
Renowned sevens internationalists Mike Adamson and Andrew Turnbull make a welcome return to the Scotland set-up for the first time in the 2010/11 HSBC Sevens World Series, bringing with them the combined tally of 56 IRB tournaments and 120 tries, not to mention three Commonwealth Games and two Sevens World Cups.
Shiel said: “It’s great having guys like Mike [Adamson] and Andrew [Turnbull] in the squad as they have been excellent performers throughout their careers, but they also bring a lot of experience and leadership, both on and off the pitch, which is invaluable.
“It’s important that we get the tournament off to a good start with a win against Tonga. If we do that then we move into the game against Mexico targeting a second win which, if we perform well enough, would give us a chance to go through to the cup quarter-final on day two.
“It’s a tough ask and won’t be easy but that’s the challenge that we like to set ourselves and I’m sure the guys will work hard to achieve that.”
As well as the recall of Boroughmuir wing Tom Bury, who travelled with the squad in the opening four tournaments of 2008/09, Scotland 7s debuts have been offered to Glasgow Warriors and Heriot's hooker Finlay Gillies, Glasgow Hawks number 8 Ross Miller, and former Arabian Gulf sevens internationalist Jonny Macdonald.
Despite being capped in three Dubai tournaments and the 2010 Rugby World Cup Sevens, MacDonald (who qualifies for selection through his grandfather Neil, from Renfrew) became eligible for Scotland selection following the disbandment of the Arabian Gulf which, through an IRB ruling, makes him available to play for another nation.
Shiel added: “Finlay Gillies has been part of the Academy programme for a number of years now. He has very good core skills and his understanding of the game is very good so I’m really excited to see him in the sevens programme.
“It’ll be a challenge for him as it’s not necessarily a natural path for a hooker to take but he has the skills and he has the ability to perform on the world stage.
“Ross Miller has been training with us and has developed a huge amount since coming on board.
“He’s a player who has taken huge strides since we started the weekly training programme back in September and this is a great opportunity for us to have a look at him, see what he’s made of and see his skills under pressure.
“The last new cap, Jonny MacDonald, has international sevens experience which is very positive. He’ll learn a lot from the environment that we’ll be in over the next couple of weeks and I’m sure he’ll learn and do well for us.”

A packed house at Hong Kong
Elsewhere in the competition, joint World Series leaders New Zealand and England top Pools A and B respectively: New Zealand will face France, Portugal and Korea, while England will play USA, Japan and China.
In Pool D USA Sevens runners-up Fiji are matched against Kenya, Russia and Malaysia.
Champions of Las Vegas, South Africa, will line up against Wales, hosts Hong Kong and Spain in Pool E and finally, sixth seeds Australia face seventh seeds Argentina, as well as Canada and Zimbabwe in Pool F.
At the halfway stage in this year’s Sevens World Series there have been three different champions from the four tournaments, England winning Dubai, New Zealand victorious in both South Africa and at home in Wellington and South Africa the most recent champion in Las Vegas.
New Zealand and England currently share top spot in the Series table with 80 points apiece. Fiji and Samoa are joint third with 64 and South Africa are close behind in fifth with 56.
After the famous sevens event Scotland will head for Australia where they will face current joint series leaders England, seventh placed Argentina and Commonwealth Games Bowl winners Papua New Guinea at the historic Adelaide Oval.
The eight-event HSBC Sevens World Series will take its unique brand of entertainment to the UK, first landing in London and then travelling north to Edinburgh for the Series finale at Murrayfield stadium on 28 and 29 May 2011.
Scotland squad for Hong Kong and Adelaide Sevens: Mike Adamson (Glasgow Hawks), Tom Bury (Boroughmuir), Graham Fisken (West of Scotland), Michael Fedo (Team Northumbria), Finlay Gillies (Glasgow Warriors elite development/Heriot’s), Fraser Harkness (Selkirk), James Johnstone (Glasgow Warriors elite development/Currie), Jonny Macdonald (Cardiff University), Ross Miller (Glasgow Hawks), Ross Samson (Edinburgh Rugby), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh Rugby), Andrew Skeen (Watsonians)

This article was posted on 18-Mar-2011, 10:31 by Hugh Barrow.