SCOTS GO OUT TO STANDING OVATION IN HONG KONG
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Date Posted: 20-Mar-05

Scotland were knocked out of the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong this afternoon by a fine performance from England, who won 36-0.

During Scotland’s final lap of the impressive ground they were given a standing ovation by the crowd for what was on the whole a solid tournament for the Scots that justified their top eight seeding.

Scotland took time to sign autographs and speak to the strong Scottish fan base who had helped them to four wins from four on the first two days of the competition before they suffered heavy defeats at the hands of New Zealand and England.

The tournament started well with Scotland running out 33-14 winners over Ireland, followed by a 36-14 triumph over the USA, a 33-15 victory over Korea and a tight 12-7 win over Tonga, granting them a place in the quarter-finals.

Unfortunately those well earned defeats were followed by a 48-0 loss to World Cup favourites the All Blacks and today’s 36-0 defeat to England in the cup quarters.

Back in the dressing room coach Rob Moffat thanked the players for their efforts over the three days of competition and reiterated that Scotland had vindicated their initial seeding. He also called for improvement, identifying that both New Zealand and England are setting a standard in world sevens that Scotland must match.

He said after: “The basic and honest thing is that we were seeded in the top eight and we reached the quarter finals. I would have been disappointed if we hadn’t reached that stage but we achieved the objective we set ourselves before we came.

“We’ll look to move on because what we are about is developing and we are doing that – we are better than we were. Two years ago here we lost the plate final, last year we won the plate and this year we made it to the quarter finals of the cup – I’m a simple man and to me that’s improvement.

“We are aiming to be the best in the world and the simple fact is that New Zealand are already there and if that is where we want to be then we will have to beat the top teams. This is a difficult environment to play in but the crowd have been fantastic and it is a great tournament,” he added.

The match against the Auld Enemy saw them run in six unanswered tries with scores coming from Richard Haughton, Peter Richards, Tony Roques, Ben Gollings, replacements Rob Thrilby and Geoff Appleford. Gollings and captain Simon Amor added a conversion each.

England impressed with an early score from a quickly taken tap penalty that saw Amor race up field, feeding Haughton for the try. Scotland were then driven off their own defending scrum to allow Richards in for his touchdown. A simple case of men over in attack gave England their third before half time.

Scotland came on the attack in the second half with sharp play and good alertness from captain David Gray combined with strong running from centre Roland Reid. Unfortunately the ball was lost in contact and Haughton scooped it up, using a two on one situation to put Gollings past scrum-half Jamie Blackwood. From there, Thrilby’s and Appleford’s scores followed in quick succession.

SCOTLAND: Mark Lee (The Army), David Gray (Gala) CAPTAIN, Kelly Brown (The Borders), Jamie Blackwood (Watsonians), Clark Laidlaw (Jed-Forest), Roland Reid (London Irish), Andrew Turnbull (The Borders)
Substitutes: Oli Brown (Boroughmuir), Alasdair Strokosch (Edinburgh Rugby), Colin Gregor (Watsonians) (all used), Kenny Sinclair (Glasgow Hawks), Calum MacRae (The Borders)

ENGLAND: Tony Roques, Pat Sanderson, Peter Richards, Phil Dowson, Ben Gollings, Simon Amor, Richard Haughton
Substitutes: Geoff Appleford, Henry Paul, Neil Starling, Ugo Monye, Rob Thrilby

This article was posted on 20-Mar-2005, 10:52 by Hugh Barrow.