More woe as Scotland fail to reach quarters again

It’s been anything but sevens heaven for Scotland this season and yesterday at the London tournament, the final leg of the HSBC World Series, the Scots once again failed to reach the quarter-finals of the cup and today, as they have done throughout the competition, will play in the bowl competition.

Not so long ago Scotland reached six cup quarter-finals and even a cup semi-final, achieved with wins over Fiji, England, South Africa and Samoa, but not this season. The past nine tournaments have represented a mediocre level of performance for Scotland which, if not addressed in the off-season, will result in the Scots slipping behind a clutch of “newer” European rugby nations who are realising that sevens rugby rather than XVs is a better route to sporting success.

Yesterday, Scotland began their Twickenham campaign where they left off last week – when they finished with a below-par performance against Spain – against an Australia side that made sure Scotland were penned in their own 22m area for the whole of the first half.

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The Australians’ quick engagement in the tackle, the ferocity of their contact area work, and Scotland’s slack defence allowed the Wallabies to dominate possession, resulting in four first-half tries for a 22-0 interval lead. The Scots came to life after the break with tries by Mike Fedo and Sean Kennedy to make the scoreline more respectable at 27-12.

Against South Africa in their second pool match, Scotland looked much more alert, answering an early score by the Springboks with a try by John Houston. But thereafter, despite sharper play from the Scots, it was South Africa who ruled the tie, increasing their 10-5 half time lead with two scores after the break to win 20-5, ensuring that it would be another bowl quarter-final for Scotland.

Scotland, however, signed off with a victory over Portugal after coming from behind at the break to dominate the second half resulting in tries for Fedo, James Fleming and Byron McGuigan for a 26-12 win.