Pecqueur hails Dalziel legacy as Scots look to make impact at Twickenham
Scotland Sevens player Sam Pecqueur has paid tribute to the legacy that former head coach John Dalziel has left – and now the 24-year-old is fully focused on making his mark at Twickenham this weekend.
Dalziel has joined Glasgow Warriors as for wards coach and stepped down from his role with the abbreviated game squad after the eighth leg of the World Sevens Series in Singapore. He was in charge of the sevens group for nearlytwoy ears and brought through a lot of young players from the club game into a fulltime environment.
Pecqueur, who came through the ranks at Edinburgh Accies and Melrose, is one of those players who have flourished having been given his chance at this level.
In 2017-18 the wing er/ forward was a par t-time player and made his debut in Cape Town before breaking a leg and missing there st of the circuit.
He did get back in time to play in the World Cup in San Francisco last summer and, since becoming full-time in August, has been key in all eight legs of the World Series this term.
Scotland go into the Twickenham event tomorrow and Sunday – which is followed by the finale in France next weekend – tenth in the standings (62 points) with the USA out in front on 145 points.
“I owe a lot to John Dalziel,” Pecqueur said. “He gave me a chance to get into this sevens environment back in the summer of 2017 and it is great to see that a lot of the guys who came through at that stage are now core members of this squad.
“John created a great environment in the squad and gave me a lot of confidence in my own abilities.
“This year we have had some high sand some lows, but I think that in general we are in a great place to build for the future.” With one eye on that future interim head coach Scott Forrest has handed former Scotland age -grade caps Kaleem Barreto and Kyle Rowe their international Sevens debuts at Twickenham.
Scotland famously won this event in 2016 and 2017 and tomorrow are in a pool with England, New Zealand and Ireland.