Sevens had come home, yet the host nation's efforts were woeful. At XVs, they had won a Grand Slam a mere three seasons earlier. Considerable effort had gone into the preparation as Scotland's side had competed in a number of preparatory trips. Fourth out of six in their group, they competed for the losers' Bowl.
Whilst they reached the final of this, they lost to Japan, before the final ignominy of watching their oldest rivals, the Auld Enemy, lift the tournament. England's success was generally seen as a surprise as they put out the crowd's favourites Fiji in the semi-final and then defeated Australia in the Final,
a partial revenge for their defeat in the XVs final in 1991 to the same country.
Sevens, by contrast, grows from strength to strength. It is seen by the International Rugby Board as a means by which the emergent rugby nations can compete with the giants of the game. It has developed into a global 12 tournament "world series" and made its debut at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 in Manchester.
Whilst the XV code was last an Olympic sport in 1924, USA remain champions, moves are afoot for the seven-a-side game to become an Olympic sport in the near future. All thanks to Ned Haig, a Melrose butcher.
