Stuart Hogg to make first 7s appearance

SCOTLAND international Stuart Hogg is in line for his first Scotland 7s appearance during a one-day event in London this weekend.

Stuart Hogg will turn out for the Scotland 7s in London this weekend. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The Glasgow Warriors full-back is part of a 13-strong squad travelling to the Sevens and the City event at Saracens’ home ground Allianz Park.

Eleven of the squad are gearing up for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, with the only notable absence Colin Gregor, who is continuing his recovery from a concussion sustained in Moscow a fortnight ago.

The other two squad members are Struan Dewar and Mark Robertson, while Sean Lamont is included for the first time since 2009.

Richie Vernon - who enjoyed a run-out at the Glasgow 7s in May - also returns while Scott Wight is included after missing out on Moscow.

Head coach Scott Gemmell said: “I’m really enthused about taking this squad to London. There has been a lot of excitement this week, with our Team Scotland camp last weekend and being based at Stirling University with a number of the other athletes this week.

“This tournament is vital to our Commonwealth Games preparations and it is the first time this group of players will play together.

“This weekend is about looking at different player combinations and fine tuning our game plans. Also, given there are four games, we have been fortunate enough to take an extra player to balance the load and it has been good for Struan [Dewar] and Mark [Robertson] to be a part of our training in Stirling this week.

“This weekend will be good for Sean [Lamont] and Stuart [Hogg] and their understanding of how they can use their individual skills to benefit the team and I know they are both really excited about the opportunity.

“My challenge is to put together a group of players who are better and more prepared than ever before, to run out at Ibrox, and achieve something great in a Scotland 7s jersey. Sevens and the City will continue to sharpen the minds of players and management to the task in hand over the coming weeks.”

Scotland are in Group B, and will take on Germany, Wailers and Wales.

After group matches are complete, each team in the tournament will play a fourth match against the side that finished in the equivalent position in Group A - made up of England, Papua New Guinea, Apache and Barbados.

Gemmell added: “Germany and Wales we know well from FIRA tournaments and the World circuit. Wales will be similar to us, preparing for Glasgow 2014 and Germany will be looking to build on strong performances recently, in Europe.

“Wailers are always a strong invitational team who will want to put down a marker. However my focus is purely on how my players gel as a team and most importantly that we come away with the key lessons learnt to take into the next fortnight.”

Scotland squad: Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Struan Dewar, James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors), Roddy Grant (Edinburgh Rugby), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), James Johnstone, Lee Jones, Sean Lamont (both Glasgow Warriors), Scott Riddell, Mark Robertson, Colin Shaw, Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors) and Scott Wight.