Sevens squad's green light for Commonwealth Games

SCOTLAND have confirmed their participation in Sevens rugby at the Commonwealth Games in October after naming a 12-man squad for the event.

The party includes seven of the players who competed for Scotland in the Edinburgh leg of the 2010 IRB Sevens World Series at the end of May, finishing fifth, and an additional two players who featured in the team which achieved back-to-back semi-final places in London and Edinburgh in the 2009 tournament.

"We are delighted that our participation in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi has been confirmed," said Scotland Sevens coach, Stephen Gemmell, who will lead the team at tournament. "The Commonwealth Games is a major event on the world sporting calendar and Scottish Rugby and Scotland Sevens are hugely honoured to be part of it.

"We've worked hard through our selection process with the Commonwealth Games Council Scotland and I'm delighted that, at the end of that selection process, the team we've nominated has been confirmed. Our preparations will now start in earnest with a view to contributing to a successful Team Scotland in October."

All the nominated players have previously played in successful Scotland Sevens teams, including one who played in the 2006 Commonwealth Games - Edinburgh's Andrew Turnbull. There are six Scotland A caps in the squad and one full Scotland internationalist in Dave Callam.

While October is a busy period for professional rugby, Gemmell has secured a squad brimming with international sevens experience and is delighted that the quality of talent has been recognised.

"There are seven guys who were part of the squad in London and Edinburgh and we've got two additional players - Scott Forrest and Hefin O'Hare - who both played in the semi-final team in London and Edinburgh last year.

"There's a wealth of experience there, then you bring in players such as Scott Newlands who has been performing well for Edinburgh.

"To have someone such as Dave Callam in there as an internationalist gives us real leadership and experience both on and off the field. He's really excited to be included and is looking forward to going to Delhi."

The decision to include rugby sevens as part of Team Scotland was based on results from both the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens and the IRB Sevens World Series during a three-year period.

Rugby sevens is one of ten core sports at the Commonwealth Games. Scotland will go into the Games seeded eighth by the IRB and will play in pool A, against defending Games champions and top seeds New Zealand, World Series regulars Canada and Caribbean champions Guyana, who also competed on the World Series this season in Las Vegas.