Magners League Official Website : Scots Reach Sevens Plate Final

Scots Reach Sevens Plate Final

5 February 2005, 4:43 pm

By Janet Farmer

Scotland notched a memorable 19-17 victory over the Auld Enemy in the semi-final of the IRB AXA International Sevens Plate in New Zealand today.

A 14-5 defeat by Argentina in the Cup quarter-final earlier in the day set up the tie with England but the Scots bounced back and put in one of their best performances on IRB circuit to secure the win.

The Scots opened the scoring with a try from The Borders' flying winger Andrew Turnbull before captain David Gray added a second. Jed-Forest's Clark Laidlaw converted to give his side a 12-0 lead.

England fought back through Dan Hipkiss with Ollie Phillips adding a second which Ben Gollings converted to level the score at half time. After the break, England took the lead for the first time through Phillips but Scotland weren't finished.

With the final play of the match Laidlaw touched down to once again bring the sides even. Laidlaw stepped up and converted his own try, giving Scotland victory over the side that was ranked number one in the world.

Gallagher said: "The boys worked really hard and we are delighted with the performance. Today's win over England was well deserved, especially after the disappointment of losing to them in very similar circumstances in Dubai back in December."

Scotland progressed to the Plate final but suffered a 32-0 defeat at the hands of Australia. Argentina went on to the final of the Cup but New Zealand took the spoils in their own back yard, winning 31-7.

Scotland Sevens Squad:
Mark Lee (The Army), David Gray (Gala, Capt), Oli Brown (Boroughmuir), Alasdair Strokosch (Edinburgh Rugby and Scottish Institute of Sport), Kelly Brown (The Borders and Scottish Institute of Sport), Jamie Blackwood (Watsonians), Calum MacRae (The Borders and Scottish Institute of Sport), Clark Laidlaw (Jed-Forest), Kenny Sinclair (Glasgow Hawks), Paul Boston (Edinburgh Rugby), David Millard (Glasgow Rugby), Andrew Turnbull (The Borders)