Shiel is feeling lucky in Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Sevens tournament marks the mid-point in the HSBC Sevens World Series and for Scotland Sevens head coach Graham Shiel it’s another opportunity to reach the team’s goal of a first Cup quarter-final.

Shiel reports an air of optimism ahead of the weekend’s competition, when the Scots will take on Kenya, England and Brazil in Pool D.

Shiel said: “There is never an easy group on the circuit, but I’m optimistic about taking on Kenya, England and Brazil over the weekend. We must play to our potential and take control of every game.

“We have played Kenya twice this year; we won the first time and lost the second. This will always be a challenging match but we have to target it as a must win match.

“England are consistent in the top three this year but, as ever, there is always a bit of added competition playing them. We have developed and can certainly compete.

“Finally, Brazil are unknown, but we have two matches where we can get a look at them before we play them.”

Scotland Sevens will play Kenya at 1.28am GMT and England at 4.46am tomorrow. They will then complete the group stage against Brazil at 8pm before moving into the Cup or Bowl quarter-finals on Sunday.