SCOTS TO FACE COOK ISLANDS IN BOWL QUARTERS
Saturday, 02 April 2011

Finaly Gillies got the crucial score to defeat PNG
Scotland will meet the Cook Islands in the Bowl quarter-final of the Adelaide sevens, the sixth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series tomorrow.
The Scots endured a hard start to the tournament with a 45-7 defeat to series title chasing England, and a 22-7 loss to seventh placed Argentina before battling back to defeat PNG (Papua New Guinea), 19-14, and earn a favourable seeding in the Bowl competition where they will face the first of the tournament’s regional qualifiers, the Cook Islands.
Scotland 7s head coach Graham Shiel, said: “We came through a tough day today where possession was again an issue for us. With the ball we can threaten teams but without it we’re struggling to hold out against the stronger teams.
“But the boys showed great heart to come back from 14-0 down at half-time of game three which required great composure and accuracy to bounce back and get the result.
“We started to play the type of game we want to play and will look to take that into our matches tomorrow.”
The Scots lived with the English for the first half, James Johnstone’s try (converted by Mike Adamson) keeping them within reach at the interval (12-7) however a blistering second half from England saw them cross the line another five times to end the convincing win.
Wins over Argentina and PNG were then essential for Cup quarter-final qualification but ultimately the Argentines proved too much for Scotland, keeping a good grasp of possession and running in four tries to a solitary Scottish effort from Andrew Turnbull.
With two games down the Scots’ Bowl fate was confirmed however the final match of day against PNG was crucial to the side’s progression.
The match got off to a poor start for the boys in blue when Albert Levi and Henry Liliket registered converted tries to put PNG 14-0 up at half-time.
However after the break a revitalised Scotland took to the field and ran in three unanswered tries to win the match – Ross Miller, Ross Samson and Finlay Gillies the match winners with the all-important tries.
After Adelaide, the eight-event HSBC Sevens World Series will take its unique brand of entertainment to the UK, first landing in London and then traveling north to Edinburgh for the Series finale at Murrayfield stadium on 28 and 29 May 2011.
Day two of the Adelaide Sevens, Sunday 3 April
Quarter-final: Scotland v Cook Islands (kick-off 11.44am)
Day one of the Adelaide Sevens, Saturday 2 April
England 45-7 Scotland
Argentina 22-7 Scotland
Scotland 19-14 Papua New Guinea
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/Currie), 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 2-Apr-2011, 17:47 by Hugh Barrow.