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Shield not good enough for Scots

Tuesday 16 February 2010 (UR7s & Photo IRB Wessel Oosthuizen)

Winning the Shield title at the IRB Sevens World Series event in Las Vegas, USA, did little to hide the disappointment of the Scotland 7s team and head coach Stephen Gemmell.

A victory over Chile (26-10) was preceded by defeats to Kenya (17-0) and eventual tournament winners Samoa (41-12) on Day One to relegate the Scots into the Bowl competition on Day Two.

But defeat at the hands of Argentina meant that the Shield competition was their final destination.

Wins over Guyana and Japan sealed the title but the fourth tier competition is not enough to satisfy the ambitions of Gemmell.

“It’s been a disappointing weekend. The reality is we’ve beaten Chile, Guyana and Japan and, with no disrespect, we should be beating them,” said Gemmell.

“We finished below our seeding and that’s not where we want to be.

“It was nice to finish with a couple of wins, and we played some good rugby in the final, but we’re massively disappointed and winning a trophy is not going to hide that.”

It has been a disappointing season for Gemmell, however, finding his side in the Shield competition in all four of the tournaments so far, and not even registering a win in the opening leg in Dubai.

They won the same competition in George against France, but with a quick turnaround before Adeliade and Hong Kong, Gemmell wants to find some form before the home leg in Edinburgh.

“We need to look at what we are going to do. We are in the bottom four again. It is not where I want to be, or as a Union, and certainly not the players,” added Gemmell.

“It has been a disappointing four tournaments. But there is a quick turnaround before Adelaide and Hong Kong and we need to look at how we are going to prepare for that.

“We know we have Edinburgh to finish, but we need to build momentum for that; we can’t just expect things will be alright for it.”

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