Former Borders rugby players in action for Great Britain’s sevens squad in Dubai
Former Peebles full-back Rory McHaffie and ex-Melrose scrum-half Roan Frostwick were in action for Great Britain at rugby’s Dubai Sevens at the weekend, totting up 11 points for their team.
Scottish-led Team GB, with Selkirk’s Ciaran Beattie as head coach, won two of their five matches at the United Arab Emirates event, round one of this rugby season’s HSBC-sponsored world sevens series, beating Spain 14-10 on Saturday, thanks to tries from McHaffie and Matt Davidson, both converted by Frostwick.
Frostwick, 25, played for all 14 minutes of that match and McHaffie, 18, for eight.
That was one of three pool games for Beattie’s squad, the others, also on Saturday, being losses by 21-14 to eventual winners New Zealand and 26-17 to beaten finalists Australia.
Luca Bardelli and Brent Jackson scored tries against the All Blacks, both converted by Tom Burton, with McHaffie featuring as an 11th-minute replacement.
Touching down tries against Australia were Jackson, Davidson and Ryan Apps, with Burton adding one conversion and Frostwick and McHaffie both making appearances from the bench, three minutes in and two minutes later respectively.
Those results left the British third in their pool, on four points from three fixtures, with New Zealand top, on nine, and Australia second, on seven.
Sunday saw a fifth-place semi-final against South Africa and seventh-place play-off versus Argentina follow, yielding a defeat by 34-0 and 24-19 win respectively.
Frostwick and McHaffie both started against the Springboks, with the former staying the course and the latter going off on nine minutes.
Jackson, Bardelli, Apps and Marcus Kershaw scored tries against the Argentinians, with Jackson converting one and Frostwick another.
McHaffie was an unused substitute that time round but Frostwick made a late appearance.
Round two of the series follows at Cape Town in South Africa this coming weekend and Britain go into it sitting seventh on the competition’s leaderboard, on eight points.
Beattie, 39, is pleased at how his Edinburgh squad are shaping up, saying: “I’m excited for the start of this season because it’s one where we can really build on throughout.
“We’re really excited to see how much they can build and where they can get to over the season.
“We’ve had limited time together in the build-up but it’s been utilised well and there’s been good focus and energy.
“We’ve got a great blend of some experienced players but also some really good youngsters who are rip-roaring to go.
“The sevens circuit is so demanding on each individual player that by exposing our young talent to it, they’re only going to get better.
“Our contracted group of men’s players have trained well recently and we’re looking forward to seeing how they combine with the other players selected.
“Rory McHaffie is a young talent within Scottish rugby and we’re excited to see how sevens can develop him and push him on to where we believe he can get to.”
Frostwick is a member of Scotland’s new six-strong core sevens squad these days and McHaffie is in United Rugby Championship side Edinburgh’s academy.
Making up the rest of Britain’s squad of 13, eight of them Scots, were Damien Hoyland, Ethan Waddleton, Ollie Duncan, Josh Radcliffe and Charlton Kerr.