Borders players hope to help Scots preserve London success

Scotland 7s will travel to Twickenham this weekend looking to win the London HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series tournament for the third successive year.
Nyle Godsmark (picture by Douglas Hardie)Nyle Godsmark (picture by Douglas Hardie)
Nyle Godsmark (picture by Douglas Hardie)

Melrose pair Nyle Godsmark and Ally Miller, plus ex-Hawick man Darcy Graham, represent the splash of Borders talent in the team, while head coach John Dalziel (ex-Melrose) also welcomes back Jack Cuthbert and Gavin Lowe from injury. Cuthbert is one of just four players also involved in last year’s cup victory.

Captain Scott Riddell and Jamie Farndale will be looking to add a third Twickenham winners medal to their collections, lifting the cup in both 2016 and 2017.

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Nick McLennan was a member of the squad that beat South Africa in the final in 2016, while Jo Nayacavou also helped the Scots beat England to go back-to-back last year.

Glasgow Warriors’ Bobby Beattie is brought in, his last involvement with the 7s coming in Singapore last year.

Scotland have been drawn in Pool A alongside New Zealand, Fiji and Argentina.

It was at Twickenham 12 months ago that a second half fight back in the quarter-finals earned Scotland their first ever victory over the All Blacks, who currently sit in third on the World Series standings.

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Fiji lead the World Series, having won four of the last five tournaments, and Argentina are searching for their first cup victory this year.

Dalziel said: “We’re a new group this season. There are a lot of young players who will be playing at the Twickenham tournament for the first time and we’ll be focusing on the processes we need to put in place to perform at our best.

“Groups don’t come much harder. We’re up against three of the top six teams in the world but we’re fully focused on game one.

“We’ve looked at the opposition but we’ve also looked at ourselves and, coming out of Singapore, the big focus has been on performing more consistently. If we do that, we can really challenge these teams.”

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Scotland 7s fixtures in the ninth leg of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series in London, Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3, live on Sky Sports.

June 2 – 10:58am, Scotland 7s v New Zealand 7s; 2.26pm, Scotland 7s v Fiji 7s; 5.10pm Scotland 7s v Argentina 7s.

June 3 – To be confirmed.

Scotland 7s squad to compete in London – Scott Riddell, Darcy Graham, Nyle Godsmark, Bobby Beattie, Nick Mclennan, Jo Nayacavou, Jamie Farndale, Harvey Elms, Robbie Fergusson, Gavin Lowe, Max McFarland, Jack Cuthbert, Ally Miller.