Glasgow Sevens: It’s sevens heaven. . . apart from the results

At SCOTSTOUN yesterday there was sun, tries aplenty and enough fancy dress to stage a mardi gras. Where Edinburgh never really warmed to the HSBC World Sevens Series, Glasgow opened its heart in welcome, placed a friendly arm around the event’s shoulder and in doing so instantly made the tournament its own.

At 13,345, the official attendance was only 1,100 more than last year’s event, but as Scotland coach Graham Shiel said, in most important respects – noise, atmosphere, engagement – the decision to take the Sevens to Glasgow Warriors’ new home was vindicated. “It was a great atmosphere,” said Shiel. “The move to Glasgow has been a really positive experience.”

But if Scotstoun was awash with boisterous bonhomie yesterday, there had to be a fly in the ointment and it came in the shape of a Scotland seven whose two defeats in three games ensured that the home side will take their place among the also-rans in the Bowl competition in today’s knockout rounds.

As Shiel said after his side had been beaten by Wales and South Africa but had beaten Russia: “It was a really tough day – we played well, but at this level it’s pretty brutal and there are very small margins. We played well at times but just didn’t get the results we were looking for.” That was a pretty accurate summary. The hosts’ day didn’t start well, with Wales drawing first blood, only for James Fleming to draw Scotland level twice with two exceptional tries. It was a match that was to end in frustration though, with Welsh skipper Rhys Shellard bursting over with seconds remaining to give the Welsh a 17-14 win as a deathly hush descended on the stadium.

If Scotland were arguably unlucky to have lost at the death against Wales, who are five places ahead of Scotland in the rankings, in a hugely entertaining second half against South Africa, who are third in the HSBC Sevens World Series, they brought the crowd to their feet with a comeback that looked extremely unlikely in the opening exchanges when a seemingly endless succession of missed tackles saw the South Africans waltz over for two horribly soft tries. Yet with Jim Thompson finding space and the raw pace of Andrew Turnbull testing the South African defenders, Scotland began to claw their way back into the game and, when the ever-impressive Colin Gregor shimmied over for tries either side of half-time to give Scotland a 14-12 lead, there was uproar as the crowd sensed an upset. Yet with the home support in full cry, baying for South African scalps, speedmeister Frankie Horne arced over for the winning score.

With little left to play for except pride, Scotland went a long way to restoring that against Russia, by scoring five tries in an emphatic 33-5 win. Ross Miller started off proceedings by barrelling his way down the right touchline and crashing through two powder-puff tackles before touching down in the corner. John Houston took a more direct route to touch down under the posts seconds before half-time. Although Russia pulled a try back just after half-time, Miller added a second try before Turnbull and Michael Fedo scored another two to put the result beyond doubt.

As well as bolstering morale, the win ensured that the nightmare scenario of Scotland playing first this morning was avoided, and also avoided the completion of a whitewash by a side ranked below Brazil, Morocco and the Niue Islands.

Notwithstanding Scotland’s travails, yesterday’s pool matches set up today’s cup, bowl, plate and shield rounds perfectly. There was only one real upset, which came when Spain comprehensively beat France 19-7 to register their first-ever win against Les Bleus, yet there were also plenty of near misses to keep the crowd happy with several underdogs really stepping up to the oche. In particular, Russia also pushed South Africa all the way, Kenya’s stirring performance against the Aussies so nearly ended in success and had the large Kenyan contingent in the crowd going beserk, while the USA’s gutsy comeback against England, when they drew level having been two tries down, elicited thunderous chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A!” in a suspiciously Glaswegian brogue.

At the elite end, though, it was business as usual for the big boys. As befits the reigning Sevens World Series champions and the leaders of this year’s series, New Zealand once again looked virtually unbeatable, dismantling a very competent Spain side 31-5 in the second match of the day and then going on to wallop a particularly lacklustre France side by 66-0 without ever getting out of first gear.

Embarrassingly easy doesn’t do justice to what must be the most one-sided game of professional sevens ever – it’s difficult to believe France were beaten finalists in Dubai. After that, the Kiwis’ hard-fought 22-21 win over ultra-physical bogey-team Samoa looked almost routine.

New Zealand skipper DJ Forbes was consistently the driving force behind for the men in black, and although the shaven-headed veteran has a bleached comedy beard that makes him look like a cross between Captain Pugwash and Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses, the boy sure can play. In fact, this is his 50th World Sevens series tournament, and it showed. When not providing a cutting edge for New Zealand, he was also adept at putting their fast men – including four former Fijians who scored seven of New Zealand’s ten tries against France – into space.

If New Zealand brought an almost mechanic efficiency to their wins, the tournament’s other standout team, Fiji, occasionally played with a verve and virtuosity that was breathtaking while also looking like they were struggling to hit their stride. Their opening 40-0 romp against Zimbabwe was followed by a surprisingly staccato 28-5 win over a game but outclassed Portugal side before rounding off with 47-7 shellacking of an outclassed Argentina. The Pacific Islanders always do just enough to advance on the first day, and few would bet against them meeting old rivals New Zealand in today’s cup final as per the seedings, although group winners Wales and England, who overcame South Africa and Australia respectively in the day’s final two games, may have something to say about that.

Scotland, unfortunately, won’t be there, and will instead be playing Kenya in the bowl in the third match of the day. Given the way the Africans played yesterday, that will be no walk in the park. There are, as Andy Robinson might say, no easy games at this level.