Scots regroup to secure Gold Coast Sevens Shield

Published on 15/10/2012 00:39

Despite losing three games from three on day one of the opening leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, Scotland managed to regroup and come away with a trophy at the Gold Coast Sevens yesterday.

The side beat Portugal (33-0) and the USA (40-5) after losing their first match against England (35-7), which meant they had to progress in the Shield, rather than the higher seeded Bowl.

Head coach, Phil Greening, said: “We’re slowly getting to where we want to be and I really hope that people can see a change in us.

“I think we won the last two games today because we stuck to our game plan and played the way we want to play. Also, we didn’t force anything and took our time.”

A James Fleming try and a conversion by Colin Gregor was all the Scots could muster against England, but Fleming added seven more tries to his running total on the circuit, with a hat-trick in both the Portugal and USA games. His tally now stands at 49.

Joining him on the scoresheet was Michael Maltman and Mark Robertson in the Shield semi-final and Michael Fedo, in the final, with another hat-trick. Gregor added the extras four and five times respectively in the two games.

Gregor said: “We achieved our game plan today and we were able to open up James Fleming on the wings and if he wasn’t getting round the last man and scoring, he was creating the space for players through the centre.

“We played more as a team and that paid off as we progressed. Winning the Shield is a good way to finish off this tournament and the two victories give us a building block for Dubai.”

The Scots will next compete in the Dubai Sevens on Friday 30 November and Saturday 1 December, in which they have been grouped with Fiji, Kenya and Spain.