IRB World Sevens Final, Murrayfield, Day 1 28 May 2011

by John Preece

Day one had it all.

Wind, sun, rain hail and a streaker, as well as some fine Sevens Rugby from the World’s best.

Teams play three qualifying matches in the first round in order to qualify for the Cup, Bowl or Plate finals on Day Two. Scotland’s record on the day was Won 2 – Lost 1, and a significant ‘1’ it turned out to be.

The host nation came back from a 12-0 half-time deficit to Fiji, in their first match, to score 14 unanswered points in a much improved second half performance (top photo), their first being decidedly ropey and include a yellow card! Next up for Scotland were Samoa. They were out-played, -ran, -muscled, indeed out-everything-ed by one of the tournament favourites, eventually going down 33-10, with again, two second half tries (bottom photo)

Qualification for the Plate final required the home team to defeat the USA by 40 points in the final match of the day.

However it was not to be, and in one of the more one-sided matches of the afternoon, they came up short – by two points – beating the USA by 45-7 (right photo).

So, that leaves Scotland third in their group behind Samoa – looking good, and Fiji – looking better since they beat Samoa 21-7, with qualification for the third ranked Bowl award.

Report and Photos – John Preece