SCOTLAND will face the World Sevens Champions Fiji in the IRB World Series tournament in South Africa in December.
The draw made yesterday pitches Scotland in with Argentina and a qualifier from the African play-offs later this month, in what is the second tournament following Dubai of the new sevens season.
The South African event takes place in George, a cit
y in the Western Cape halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
With the Rugby World Cup Sevens taking place in March next year, Stevie Gemmell, the Scotland sevens coach, admitted he was excited at being drawn with the reigning champions so early in the season.
"Fiji is a country everyone associates with rugby sevens," he said "We've pushed them hard in our last two encounters and everyone who was at the Edinburgh tournament back in May will remember the epic game we had against them, just losing out in the last few minutes.
"Playing Fiji is always a massive challenge, but it's all the more exciting now that one of the legends of the game, Waisale Serevi, is their coach and the likes of Rupeni Caucau have been named in their squad.
"Fiji will be using the IRB Sevens World Series as a marker for the season as they look to defend their World Cup title."
The Scots' game against top seeds Fiji is the opening game of the South African tournament of the eight leg series – which finishes in Edinburgh in May.
The full article contains 252 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
