Gemmell hopes his Sevens team can improve on last season's success

Scotland Sevens coach Stephen Gemmell has named his squad for next month's World Series in Dubai.

In captain Scott Forrest, Colin Shaw, Mike Adamson, Hefin O'Hare and Andrew Turnbull, Gemmell has five players who reached IRB semi-finals in May.

Gemmell told BBC Scotland: "We're in a tough pool, but that's the nature of Sevens. We've got Fiji, Samoa and Zimbabwe. We want to be in the top two.

"We want to push above and beyond where we were last season."

Scotland lost 26-12 to England in the semi-final of the London Sevens at Twickenham in May, the first time they had reached the last four of an IRB series event.

And in the Edinburgh Sevens at Murrayfield that followed, Gemmell's men again reached the last four.

Prior to that, Scotland had enjoyed a 21-17 victory in the Plate final over Australia at the World Cup Sevens in Dubai.

Gemmell knows the squad will need to perform well to surpass the achievements of the previous campaign.

"We showed in London and Edinburgh, and at the World Cup after the disappointment of our first game against Canada, that we are capable of beating the top teams," he said.

"That is certainly the sort of targets that we have set ourselves as a squad to move forward into the World Series this year culminating in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi next October."

There's a real feel-good factor around Murrayfield at the moment Stephen Gemmell

And the coach revealed that the win over Australia by the first XV last Saturday had given everyone a boost.

"There's a real feel-good factor around Murrayfield at the moment," said Gemmell.

"Andy Robinson and his management team have done a magnificent job. It gives everybody a boost. Scottish rugby is on a high in terms of its standing now.

"The full team have a massive game against Argentina coming up and it's effectively handing over the baton because we're the next international team to take to the field in the next two tournaments."

The improvement in Scotland's fortunes under Robinson has not surprised Edinburgh winger Andrew Turnbull.

"Having experienced him at Edinburgh the past couple of seasons, I'm well aware of how good he is as a coach and he's proving that now," he said.

And for the Sevens squad, he is just as optimistic.

Turnbull added: "We've got a good mix of young and old, a few boys who have played before and some youngsters coming through so we're looking forward to it.

"It would be good to maybe get to a final, maybe win a tournament."

After the action in Dubai on 5 and 6 December, the Scots head to South Africa the following week to take on Argentina, Tunisia and England.

Scotland squad: Scott Forrest, Mike Adamson, Colin Shaw, (all full-time Scotland Sevens players), Stuart McInally (Watsonians), James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors), Peter Jericevich (Glasgow Hawks), David Tait (Sale Sharks), Mike Baxter (Bath), Hefin O'Hare (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Anderson (Ayr), Lee Jones (Selkirk), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh)

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version