By Roddy Grant Scotland flanker

The IRB Sevens World Series is back on the road, with Hong Kong Stadium the venue for the fourth event of the season.

The Scotland team arrived on Sunday, still buoyed by their Plate success in the World Cup earlier this month.

Roddy Grant is confident the team can keep that momentum going for the second half of the Sevens season.

Hong Kong is always a special place to visit. It's my third time here, and I always remember it being a great place, but when I arrive I'm still astounded at just how amazing it is.

Tournament-wise it's really exciting, but it's also great to experience such a different culture - it's something you just don't get anywhere else.

We're staying in a hotel right on the water facing Hong Kong Island. We've got a great view of the massive skyscrapers, and at night everything lights up and we can see the laser shows from across the water.

The mood in the camp is great at the moment, thanks to our performances at the World Cup.

The unmistakable Hong Kong skyline provides a spectacular back-drop

At first we were disappointed not to reach our goal of making the cup quarter final, especially as it more or less boiled down to five minutes against Canada. Quite simply, we were awful.

On the second day, it was a different team that showed up. We gave our best performances in the time that I've been part of the team.

On the final day, we all worked for each other, and beating France spurred us on to beat Portugal, and that took us to the Plate final.

It was night, the stadium was full, and there was a huge buzz about the place. We put everything into that match against Australia and coming away with the Plate was just brilliant.

It's the first time I've gone through the crowd to collect a trophy and to have everyone cheering for us is something I'll never forget.

When we saw the statistics for the tournament it was brilliant. Andrew Turnbull was the top try scorer and Colin Gregor scored the most points.

Andy was brilliant the whole tournament and to become top try scorer in a World Cup is a great achievement.

The Sevens Hong Kong leg begins on Friday

It was no surprise to us, we knew he could do it, but ask anyone in the street and I'm sure it would be something they'd be exceptionally proud of.

As a captain, Colin led from the front, scored some great tries, and kicked goals that really counted.

Now we're back on the Sevens Series and need to keep that momentum going. The ethos is now there for being in tough situations and coming through them, so it's all positive coming into Hong Kong.

It was great to get a decent run of form and more importantly, a series of wins, so everyone is confident.

Hefin O'Hare, the former Welsh rugby league international, is settling well into his new life as a Scot.

National Academy coach Alan Powell was also born in Wales, so there's been plenty of banter about.

Hefin is a great guy - someone we all like being around. As a player he's really sharp, and with his rugby league background he's solid in defence.

He's an excitable guy. Whatever jersey he puts on - Wales, Glasgow Warriors or Scotland Sevens - he puts his heart and soul into that badge. It's exciting to have him in the mix.

The format in Hong Kong is the same as it was for the World Cup.

Our game plan is simple - win every match. If we win our first three games we're through to the cup and that's where we aim to be.

There needs to be that intensity to go through no matter what.

Roddy Grant in action against Kenya in last year's Hong Kong Sevens

This is the first time we've faced the West Indies this season, but we'll do a thorough analysis of them. You can't take any team for granted.

Every team deserves respect, even if they aren't regarded as a rugby nation. We'll treat them as if we were playing New Zealand, we'll not be complacent at all.

As for Kenya and the USA, we've met them this season, so we can prepare for what to expect as best we can, but on the day things can always be different and we need to be ready for that.

On Monday we had a reception at a St Andrews society, with a group of Scottish ex-pats.

It was great to meet the locals who will be at the event this weekend and see how much they're looking forward to it.

Of course, being on a balcony on top of a skyscraper in Hong Kong was a bit surreal, but it's great to know we'll have support within the stadium as well as back home.

Roddy Grant was speaking to BBC Scotland's Joanne McKillop.

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