Scotland 7s have been drawn against hosts Australia and defending Gold Coast champions Fiji in the opening round of the 2012/13 HSBC Sevens World Series.


It’s a hard task for head coach Phil Greening on his first outing with the squad, but a challenge he is relishing greatly.




Phil Greening

He said: “It’s going to be good to go back on the circuit and see what these boys have got.

“Looking at all the teams fully involved with the circuit there is no easy group and I look forward to testing ourselves against Fiji, Australia and Tonga.


“We have been working hard to make sure we are able to hit the levels we need to perform consistently in the HSBC Sevens World Series throughout the season."
The Scots will also come up against Fiji’s south-sea island neighbours Tonga on the first day of Pool B competition (Saturday 13 October).


The Gold Coast tournament will stand alone, with the next rounds of competition at the end of November and beginning of December in Dubai and South Africa. Sevens rugby will return to Scotstoun at Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s, the penultimate round of the nine-leg circuit on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May 2013.


In addition to the draw for the first round of the Gold Coast 7s, the IRB has also announced a change to the pool draw allocation process for each of the nine rounds.

From the start of this season, the winner of the third/fourth ‘bronze medal’ match at each round of the Series will be placed top of Pool C for the subsequent round.


Previously, the only teams to gain automatic placing into pools for the next event were the Cup winner (top of Pool A) and Cup runners-up (top of Pool B).

The full details of the bands for the pool draw are as follows:


The Cup winners, runners-up and third-placed team will be placed top of Pools A, B and C respectively.

Teams placed fourth to eighth will be drawn into band two, with the first drawn team allocated top of Pool D.

Teams placed ninth to 12th will be drawn into band three.

Teams placed 13th, 14th, 15th, together with the one invitational team, will be drawn into band four.

For round one of the HSBC Sevens World Series 2012/13, the Gold Coast Sevens, teams were placed and banded based on the final standings of the 2011/2012 Series. Scotland finished tenth last season.


Gold Coast Sevens draw:


Pool A – New Zealand, South Africa, USA, Canada


Pool B – Fiji, Australia, Scotland, Tonga


Pool C – England, Samoa, Kenya, Spain


Pool D – Argentina, Wales, France, Portugal


Gold Coast Sevens day one fixtures (local-time):


12.42pm – Scotland v Fiji

4.20pm – Scotland v Australia

6.08pm – Scotland v Tonga


Scotland 7s squad: Colin Gregor (captain), Andrew Turnbull, Mark Robertson, Colin Shaw, Michael Maltman, Michael Fedo, Scott Riddell, James Fleming, Russell Weir, Struan Dewar, Lewis Young, Rory Hughes, Alex Glashan, Chris Dean, Neil Herron.

This article was posted on 17-Sep-2012, 17:07 by Hugh Barrow.