Scots succumb to Wales in all-Celtic Bowl battle

Scotland’s hopes of finishing on a high in the concluding leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series at Twickenham yesterday were shattered when Wales delivered a demolition job in the all-Celtic Bowl final.

Wales, who are ranked in the top eight countries, were smarting from a defeat to Spain on Saturday which denied them a Cup quarter-final. And it was Scotland who were on the receiving end of their frustration in a Bowl final that exposed the difference in levels of performance between the two countries.

Scotland coach Graham Shiel had challenged his players to “perform under pressure” but the Scots were unable to match Welsh aggression in defence and the ability of their opponents to retain possession.

In the event, Scotland gave away a quick try but answered with a typical score from Andrew Turnbull to trail 7-5 at the break. But, in the second half, it all went wrong for Scotland as Wales ran in three tries to win 27-5. “We simply didn’t cope with playing against one of the top eight teams,” admitted Shiel, adding: “We can play against the lower sides but find it difficult against the better teams. But, on the positive side, we’ve been more competitive on day one than last season”

Shiel’s problem is that he does not have access to many of the professional players he would want to select and, moreover, he has only six fully contracted sevens specialists. That number pales compared to what most other countries are investing in sevens rugby, the game’s popularity boosted by sevens inclusion in the Olympics.

It was not, however, all bad news for Scotland yesterday. They played confidently against Kenya to win their Bowl quarter-final 21-5 with tries from Glasgow signing Byron McGuigan, Melrose stand-off Andrew Skeen and former Howe of Fife flanker Mike Fedo all converted by Colin Gregor

Then, against Zimbabwe in the Bowl semi-final, first-half tries by James Fleming, McGuigan and Fedo gave Scotland a 17-7 interval advantage, enhanced by touchdowns after the break from Fedo and Andrew Turnbull for a 31-19 win.

New Zealand were crowned world series champions for the tenth time in 13 years, but closest rivals Fiji were the winners of the main event yesterday.

When New Zealand won their quarter-final 36-0 over defending London champions South Africa, the Kiwis clinched the series title with an unassailable points lead in the ninth and last tournament.

Fiji then blew away the Kiwis in the semi-finals 31-7 for the second year in a row and mastered Samoa 38-15 in the final to secure their first London title since 2006.