Scotland will face Wales in the Odense 7s cup quarter-finals tomorrow after today's day-one clean sweep of hosts Denmark, Germany and tournament leaders England, in the third and final leg of the FIRA-AER GP European Sevens Series.
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The results give Scotland the best opportunity to boost their European seeding from tomorrow’s knockout rounds which, combined with their tally from the Lyon and Moscow series legs, will determine the nation’s seeding in the Rugby Sevens World Cup qualifiers in two week’s time.
Head coach Graham Shiel said: "We took our chances today which was pleasing. We approached the games well and started with a real bang. We took control and imposed ourselves and that level of performance was a feature throughout the day."
Before the tournament Shiel had welcomed the return of five experienced sevens internationalists, whose ability and understanding were apparent from the outset.
A clinical and expansive running game paved the way for seven tries against hosts Denmark, with Scotland's try-line untouched (43-0).
In match two Scotland faced a more combative assessment from Germany who, despite their enthusiasm at the breakdown, were comfortably behind by the break thanks to an unanswered brace from captain Scott Riddell and a score from the ever-electric Andrew Turnbull [pictured] (19-0).
Simm Benjamin pulled back a consolation score with two minutes to spare but it was too little too late as the Scots eyed a tabletop challenge with home nations rivals, England.
Unfortunately, for the neutrals, an early red card for England’s Ollie Philips took the sting out of the mouth-watering clash, after he was sent off for a dangerous tackle on impressive Scotland debutant Russell Weir.
With a man advantage from start to finish Scotland absorbed an early England score and replied with three from Jim Thompson, Michael Fedo and Andrew Turnbull.
England’s Dan Norton and Turnbull then exchanged scores to ensure victory for the Scots, who topped the group to line up tomorrow's quarter-final with Wales (kick-off 9.58am BST).
Sheil added: “Fortune smiled on us in the England match, through what was an unfortunate tackle and red card, but we had to cash in on that mistake and make life difficult for England.
“We cant’ get ahead of ourselves. We're aware of the strong position we’ve put ourselves in but, critically, we must back it up tomorrow and show we are up to the challenge.”
Day one try scorers:
v Denmark: McGuigan (x2), Fleming, Shaw, Thompson, Turnbull, Weir
v Germany: Riddell (x2), Turnbull
v England: Fedo, Thompson, Turnbull (x2)
Scotland 7s team: Michael Fedo (Team Northumbria), Struan Dewar (Scotland 7s), Michael Maltman (Scotland 7s), Rory Hughes (Scotland 7s EDP/Glasgow Hawks), Scott Riddell (Stewart’s Melville) (captain), Colin Shaw (Scotland 7s), Jack Ferguson (Watsonians), Russell Weir (Scotland 7s), Jim Thompson (London Scottish), Byron McGuigan (Glasgow Warriors), James Fleming (Scotland 7s), Andrew Turnbull (Scotland 7s)

This article was posted on 7-Jul-2012, 21:52 by Hugh Barrow.