Scotland 7s squad for Glasgow Sevens

From the off site:

INITIAL SQUAD NAMED FOR EMIRATES AIRLINE GLASGOW 7S

Scotland 7s head coach, Graham Shiel, has today named an initial squad of 18 players ahead of the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 May.

As well as opting for the core group of players who have been involved throughout the majority of the series, Shiel welcomes Edinburgh Rugby backs Jim Thompson and John Houston, as well as twins Gregor and Lewis Young from Jed-Forest and Rory Hughes from Glasgow Hawks.

Shiel said: “Being at home for the next leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series we have a bit of extra time and some extra players to assess and be involved ahead of the tournament before I decide on the final 12 players.

“We’re constantly looking to put the strongest Scotland 7s squad together that we possibly can and it’s great to have Jim Thompson and John Houston, two seasoned sevens players with experience on the circuit, joining us at this stage.

“We also welcome Gregor and Lewis Young into the squad. They are two of the most on form sevens players in the club game at the moment and they have been working very hard in training through the season with the sevens squad, it’s their first time involved but they certainly deserve their spot.

“It’s also good to have so many players who have been travelling with us for the entire season available for selection. They understand the demands of the series.”

Nearly 20,000 tickets have been snapped up for the series' first visit to Glasgow, as fans prepare for one of the biggest weekend's in the rugby calender.

There are some huge match-ups in the pool stages of the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s with Scotland 7s taking on Wales, South Africa and Russia at 11.58am, 3.04pm and 5.53pm respectively.

Shiel continued: “We want to get the home support behind us by playing exciting attacking rugby, and to be able to win some silverware would be great for the players and supporters alike.”

The initial Scotland 7s squad for the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s is as follows:

*Ross Miller (Glasgow Hawks), Struan Dewar (Scotland 7s), *Scott Riddell (Stewart’s Melville), Michael Fedo (Nothumbria University), Rory Hughes (Glasgow Hawks), Adam Ashe (Stirling County), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Accies), Mark Robertson (Scotland 7s), Sean Kennedy (Stirling County), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Heriot’s), Colin Gregor (Scotland 7s), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh Rugby), John Houston (Edinburgh Rugby), James Fleming (Scotland 7s), Andrew Turnbull (Scotland 7s), Byron McGuigan (Scotland 7s), *Gregor Young (Jed-Forest), *Lewis Young (Jed-Forest)

Chuffed to bits for the Young twins - what a great stage for them to advertise their abilities

How's Hamish Watson getting on north of the border? He was a good prospect whilst at the Tigers academy but left for Scotland after last years JWC.

The twins did a superb job at melrose last week

Good luck to them!

formerly known as Sam wrote:How's Hamish Watson getting on north of the border? He was a good prospect whilst at the Tigers academy but left for Scotland after last years JWC.

Sam, he's been away on 7s duty pretty consistently thru'out the season, so can't really comment

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:How's Hamish Watson getting on north of the border? He was a good prospect whilst at the Tigers academy but left for Scotland after last years JWC.

Sam, he's been away on 7s duty pretty consistently thru'out the season, so can't really comment

Played against Ulster a month or so ago and was amazing. Made about 3 seperate 40m+ breaks off the bench and was a nuicance at the breakdown. Hes absolutely rapid for a forward, though quite small. Shame hes behind Rennie, Grant, and Macdonald at embra.

Imperialbigdave wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:How's Hamish Watson getting on north of the border? He was a good prospect whilst at the Tigers academy but left for Scotland after last years JWC.

Sam, he's been away on 7s duty pretty consistently thru'out the season, so can't really comment

Played against Ulster a month or so ago and was amazing. Made about 3 seperate 40m+ breaks off the bench and was a nuicance at the breakdown. Hes absolutely rapid for a forward, though quite small. Shame hes behind Rennie, Grant, and Macdonald at embra.

Yeah Hamish has been playing pretty well, had a good JWC despite only being 2nd choice openside behind Al Spence who got injured at the start of the tournament. He's been possibly the most consistent performer in the 7s team and when he has played for Edinburgh he has shown real glimpses of talent
and not looked out of place.

Robertson, Turnbull and Fleming - some good pace in that squad. Proving to be a valuable development tool.

Exactly FES, that's why the SRU need to start embracing 7's and funding it properly.

Fleming, Watson and the Young twins could be key figures in the Scottish 15 in about 4 years time. 7's gives them invaluable experience and most importantly game time and game fitness.

I've seen some criticism of Shiel recently. I realise results could be better but is he doing a good job?

nickj wrote:Exactly FES, that's why the SRU need to start embracing 7's and funding it properly.

Fleming, Watson and the Young twins could be key figures in the Scottish 15 in about 4 years time. 7's gives them invaluable experience and most importantly game time and game fitness.

I've seen some criticism of Shiel recently. I realise results could be better but is he doing a good job?

nick, results-wise, you'd have to say no, as I don't think we've once made it into the main competition this year - however, two tournaments to put that right, our own and down at Twickenham - plenty of talent at his disposal too, even if he has to release the Edinburgh lads back to the pro-district after they qualify for the Heino final

Im annoyed that Jim Thompsons in the squad. Would much rather him in the 23 for saturday than what will inevitably now be Paterson.

nickj wrote:Exactly FES, that's why the SRU need to start embracing 7's and funding it properly.

Fleming, Watson and the Young twins could be key figures in the Scottish 15 in about 4 years time. 7's gives them invaluable experience and most importantly game time and game fitness.

I've seen some criticism of Shiel recently. I realise results could be better but is he doing a good job?

To be fair to the SRU weren't they given the option of scrapping 7's a couple of years back and chose not to (many on these boards felt the money could be better spent elsewhere)?

I'd keep it. With only two professional sides it's a valuable development tool to promote young players who may not be first choice at their pro club. Lee Jones is the currently poster boy for the 7's. Hopefully Fleming will be next season.

Every time I see Budgie play 7s, I wonder whether he doesn't deserve a crack at a full Scotland test shirt.

Ticket sales pretty good too - 20000 out of 30000 capacity so far !