Jones and Riddell set for third Games with sevens
Lee Jones and Scott Riddell will both head to their third Commonwealth Games next month after the Scotland Sevens squad was named.
Six players from the pro teams have been brought into the setup to supplement the core players ahead of Gold Coast.
Glasgow Warriors winger Jones was part of Team Scotland in Delhi and was then involved at Glasgow 2014 when Scotland lost in the quarter-finals to South Africa.
The 29-year-old is joined in head coach John Dalziel’s squad this time around by Warriors team-mates Ruaridh Jackson, George Horne and teenager Matt Fagerson.
Edinburgh duo Glenn Bryce and Darcy Graham are also released by their club to travel to Australia and, given the busy Xv-a-side season still ongoing, Dalziel will have been delighted with the cooperation shown by pro team head coaches Dave Rennie and Richard Cockerill.
The seven core sevens players who are named in a 13-man party for the event on 14 and 15 April are Jamie Farndale, James Fleming, Nyle Godsmark, Gavin Lowe, Max Mcfarland, Jo Nayacavou and skipper Riddell, 32, who played in 2010 and 2014.
Dalziel said: “Selection has been very tough given the talent and depth of players we have in Scotland. The challenge for this group will be how well we
0 Lee Jones: Experienced. can come together over the next few days and weeks, to give ourselves the best opportunity to be competitive for Team Scotland at the Gold Coast Games.
“To represent Team Scotland in a Commonwealth Games is a huge honour for everyone involved and I’d like to thank Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby for their continued support, ensuring we have assembled our country’s leading sevens exponents.
“It is great to welcome back some of Scotland’s leading talent, who have previously represented Scotland Sevens and have developed into top Xv-aside players and combine them with our core sevens players who have been competing on the World Series.”
On day one in the Robina Stadium in Australia, Scotland will play Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and South Africa in the pool stages. Day two will turn into knockout rugby when the medals will be won and lost.
SCOTLAND SQUAD: Scott Riddell (C), Glenn Bryce, Matt Fagerson, Jamie Farndale, James Fleming, Nyle Godsmark, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Ruaridh Jackson, Lee Jones, Gavin Lowe, Max Mcfarland, Jo Nayacavou.