Commonwealth Games Scotland warns SRU that rugby sevens team may be left out of Delhi campaign

After being snubbed as potential tourists by New Zealand and South Africa earlier in the week, Scottish rugby suffered another serious blow yesterday when the nation’s Commonwealth Games authorities made it clear there will be no Scottish presence in the sevens competition in Delhi later this year without a significant improvement in performance and firm guarantees over the calibre of players who will be available.

Michael Cavanagh, chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland, issued that warning ahead of the weekend’s Emirates Airlines Edinburgh Sevens at Murrayfield, the final round of an IRB Sevens World Series in which Scotland have performed abjectly, failing to reach the quarter-finals of any of the seven tournaments held so far.

Scotland’s globetrotting sevens team have won just a handful of ties over the past six months, accumulating precisely zero ranking points in the process. That has alarmed Games officials, whose rule-of-thumb is that teams and individuals will only be put forward if they have a realistic chance of a top-eight finish in their respective disciplines.

“In order to have their selection confirmed, and in line with all of the other 16 sports, Scotland Rugby Sevens need to demonstrate the potential to finish in the top eight at the Games and confirm the availability of the strongest possible combination of players,” said Cavanagh. “We have been in ongoing discussions with the SRU and will review the situation with them following this weekend’s final leg of the IRB Sevens.”

While Scotland might be able to pull off some decent results at Murrayfield this week, bolstered as they have been by players like Ben Cairns, Ally Hogg and Greig Laidlaw, it is far from certain that the SRU could commit to releasing players of that quality for the Delhi games in October, when Glasgow and Edinburgh will also be competing in the early rounds of the Heineken Cup.

“We’ve always been clear about the criteria for taking part in the Games and we’re comfortable with that situation,” said SRU communications director Dominic McKay. “We’ll make sure we have the strongest possible squad to compete at the Games.”

The embarrassment is all the greater as seven-a-side rugby was invented in Scotland, the idea of a butcher, Ned Haig, who dreamt up the format as a money-making idea for Melrose. That heritage is recognised at the Rugby World Cup Sevens, held every four years, where the winners are presented with the Melrose Cup.

“The players are well aware of the situation,” said Scotland sevens coach Stephen Gemmell. “There is no secret there. If we are going to go to the Commonwealth Games then we have to show that we can be competitive, both in terms of what we do on the pitch and the squad we get together.”

As in so many other areas of the game, Scotland’s problem is primarily one of scarce resources. If Heineken Cup demands rule out around 50 home-based players, it is hard to see where a competitive Scottish sevens side will be found. Already, there are strong indications that the elite rugby review being conducted by the SRU could result in international sevens being ditched in favour of concentrating efforts elsewhere.

However, given Scotland’s unique heritage in the sport, it also seems probable that less stringent performance criteria will be applied in order that there can be a Scottish sevens presence when the Games are held in Glasgow in 2014.