Paterson in line for Scotland Sevens debut as Farndale reaches landmark

Edinburgh’s Harry Paterson, also recently in the FOSROC Super6 with Heriots, will make his Scotland Sevens debut in Singapore next week.

Head coach Ciaran Beattie has named his squad for the HSBC World Sevens Series in Singapore and Vancouver, where Jamie Farndale will again lead the country ahead of his 50th appearance in the series, 45 with Scotland and a further four times for Team GB.

Kaleem Barreto is named as Scotland’s vice-captain, while Lee Jones (knee) and Gavin Lowe (shoulder) miss out through injury. Core players Alec Coombes and Femi Sofolarin

return for the first time this season.

Beattie, whose side have not played since the Spanish double-header in Malaga and Seville at the beginning of the year, said: “We have had to wait a while since competing in Spain, so it’s great to have these two events to test ourselves and try to improve on some of the good things we showed in January.

“As well as welcoming another debutant to the squad in Harry Paterson, we are pleased to be able to draw upon the talents of Alec Coombes, who was an Olympian last year, and Femi Sofolarin, who looked great when he featured last season.

“Each opponent in the HSBC World Sevens Series presents a challenge and we will need to bring some of our best rugby in order to compete over the two-week stretch.”

Scotland will face Argentina, Wales and New Zealand in Pool C in Singapore at the country’s National Stadium, before further matches on April 16 and 17 in Vancouver.

Games will be shown on the World Rugby Youtube channel.

The BST timings for the games on Saturday April 9 are as follows: Scotland v Wales, 3.44am; Scotland v New Zealand, 6.50am; Argentina v Scotland, 10.28am.

The remaining matches on the following day, Sunday April 10, will be determined by pool placings.

Scotland: Jamie Farndale (captain), Kaleem Barreto, Alec Coombes, Reiss Cullen, Matt Davidson, Jordan Edmunds, Harvey Elms, Jacob Henry, Grant Hughes, Paddy Kelly, Ross Mccann, Harry Paterson, Femi Sofolarin.