Scottish seven target semi-final berth in Hong Kong

SCOTLAND may have dropped in the 15-a-side world rankings but the situation looks brighter in the abbreviated version of the game with the Scots lying eighth in the table, above both Australia and Wales, after four tournaments in the 2007/08 IRB World Sevens Series.

Tonight Scotland aim to start a process that will improve their position when they face Portugal in the first session of the Hong Kong Sevens before completing the pool stages tomorrow against China and Kenya.

Hong Kong differs from the other seven tournaments on the World Series in that it has a 24-team format with six pools of four. The winners of each pool go into the quarter-finals along with the two best-placed second teams for Sunday's knock-out stage.

Scotland have shown a marked improvement since becoming one of the core teams and adopting the policy of using Academy players only. But while reaching the quarter-finals of the Cup in their last nine tournaments is a positive sign, the real challenge is to gain a place in the semi-finals.

But to have any chance of making progress Scotland must first dispose of Portugal, not an easy task according to sevens coach, Stephen Gemmell. "We know that Portugal will be well organised. They work hard at sevens rugby and will bring with them an experienced side most of whom played in the Rugby World Cup last autumn." Rugby in Portugal is profiting from an encouraging display in last autumn's Rugby World Cup, as coach Tomaz Marais, acknowledged. "At the moment rugby is the game in Portugal. All of the sponsors like rugby, understand the laws of the game, the principles and values of the game."

If Scotland can open well against Portugal then they will gain confidence for their ties tomorrow. The advantage of having only one tie tonight is that Gemmell does not have to worry about resting his top players. That will mean a hard weekend for skipper Scott Forrest, now a formidable sevens forward, and the big-engined Chris Fusaro, the former Bell-Baxter High School flanker.

Scotland squad: S Forrest (Ayr, capt), M Adamson, C Shaw, R Vernon (all Glasgow), B Addison (Stirling County), C Fusaro (Heriot's), R Grant (Heriot's), J Hunter (Glasgow Hawks), G Laidlaw, S Newlands, A Warnock (all Edinburgh), J Thompson (Heriot's).