Scotland sevens lift Bowl after thriller with Canada

Scotland won the third-tier Bowl competition for the second week in a row after beating Canada 22-19 in a nail-biting final in the Nelson Mandela Bay sevens in South Africa, the third leg of the HSBC World Series.

Despite qualifying for the Bowl tournament as top seeds, the Scots – who have reached Bowl finals in all three world series tournaments so far – faced a tough run in South Africa, having to overcome Kenya and Argentina en route to the final.

Still reeling from the disappointment of not making the cup quarters, the Scots channelled their aggression into a fine display of sevens rugby, beating Kenya 26-7 in their Bowl quarter-final. James Fleming delivered his second hat-trick of the tournament to pit the Scots against their Gold Coast final victors, Argentina, in the semis.

The match lived up to its billing as a tense affair as the nations exchanged two tries apiece, the Scots taking the lead on both occasions, only for the Argentines to draw level.

Then, more than a minute outside of regulation time, Kerr Gossman sprinted up the near side touchline to net the winning try for a 21-14 scoreline and book Scotland’s place in the final against Canada.

Canada opened the scoring in under a minute but Scotland hit back through Michael Fedo and Peter Horne to snatch the lead.

The Cannucks then equalised with a minute to go before Fleming showed a blistering turn of pace once more to give Scotland an important 17-12 lead at half-time. After four exhausting minutes of sevens rugby Scotland got a crucial score to put some breathing space between the teams.

Canada then crossed for a consolation after the hooter to end the game and send Scotland home with the silverware.

In the main Cup tournament, New Zealand beat hosts South Africa 31-26 in the final in Port Elizabeth.