SCOTLAND's sevens coach, Stevie Gemmell, sought to underline the success of his side in reaching their second IRB World Sevens Series semi-final in eight days, but his face wore the same dejected look of his players.
He spoke for more than five minutes to his players after they trooped from the field, having lost a sudden-death decider to South Africa to miss out on a first-ever final.
It was taking some time for the players to get over the memory of a lost li
neout deep in the South Africa 22, a slipped tackle and other little decisions that, played differently, might have earned them victory over the new world sevens series champions.
"I'm immensely proud of the players over the past weekends," said Gemmell, "but it's a massive disappointment and we're gutted to lose in the way we did.
"We had opportunities in that game with South Africa and when we look back at it we will rue one or two decisions. But it's a measure of where we have come from that we're all massively disappointed. We have just pushed the best sevens team in the world to sudden death extra-time and I've told them to hold their heads high.
"Over the piece, for this group of players to come together in the space of two weeks and do what they have done has been tremendous. We have shown that we have the players in Scotland who are good enough to compete with the best teams in the world."
Allister Hogg already knew that, the Scotland back row having won 47 caps for Scotland in the full XVs arena. However, after running the full gamut of sevens emotions with terrific creative play, excellent ball-winning, some errors and a yellow card, he admitted that the past fortnight had been an experience he would not have wished to miss, and one he would like to repeat.
He said: "I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience of playing sevens for Scotland, for the first time. It's totally different to XVs, but I'm glad Stevie asked me because I have learned a lot about sevens in the past two weeks and I'd love to be involved again.
"You are on the spot pretty much every time there's an attack, and you have to make the right decisions a lot more than in XVs. But it's great.
"I've already spoken to Gordon McKie and told him I want to be involved in the Commonwealth Games next year; I've thrown my hat in the ring. You're employed to play XVs so who knows, but if I get the opportunity again I'll definitely take it. It has been great to be part of a Scotland side that has reached our first two semi-finals."
One man likely to play a key role in next year's series and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi is skipper Scott Forrest. He added: "I'm disappointed first and foremost – that's the closest we've come to a final – but we've taken some great strides over the last two weekends.
"Playing England at home in front of a home crowd is always something special and the way we started this weekend by beating them sparked the momentum, and I thought we had it in that semi-final… so close.
"But this team has been Scotland's most successful. It's a good way to end the season and hopefully we can take momentum from this into next season and the Games."
The full article contains 594 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
