Sevens call-up was out of the blue but age won’tbe barrier for me, says Lamont
SEVENS rugby is supposed to be a young man’s sport — so what on earth was Sean Lamont’s name doing on the list when head coach Stevie Gemmell named his Scotland squad ahead of this summer’s Commonwealth Games?
The big winger does, of course, have a fair bit of experience playing the abbreviated game for Scotland in the IRB Sevens World Series — and has even competed at a Commonwealth Games before.
But that was back in 2002, and now at the grand old age of 33 (and with 86 caps under his belt from an international career stretching back a decade), he surely deserves a bit of a break after flying home from the North American leg of Scotland’s summer tour, rather than having to dive straight into the gruelling training regime which will be required to get him up to pace for a Scottish tilt at a Games medal?
‘It was a bit out of the blue, but I’ve always wanted to do another Games and I’ve always been a big fan of Sevens,’ said Lamont.
‘I’ve not played it since 2009, and it was 12 years ago that I played in the Games, so it does make me feel a lot older than the rest of them, that’s for sure. But it’s a great honour and as soon as Stevie offered me it, I just about bit his arm off.
‘I know there’s going to be a lot of good, hard graft this summer getting myself back up to Sevens speed. It makes me cringe thinking about what I’m going to have to do — but there’s no way I’m not doing it. You’re a long time retired, so while I’m in demand I’ll do whatever is asked of me.
‘I’d rather be busy and involved than not. If I have to be used every week until I drop dead, I’ll do it. I’ll never retire — either the body will break down or I’ll become surplus to requirements. While I’m in demand I’m a happy man.
‘You know what you’re getting into when you do it and it’s worth it because it’s great being able to have so much more space on the pitch.
‘It’s rugby but it could almost be a completely different sport. Fifteens is more physical and it’s generally against bigger guys but, as a winger, if you get 15 touches of the ball in a game that’s a high workload. You might have to do one length-of-the-pitch sprint but in Sevens you’re doing that every other phase.’
Lamont’s fond memories of competing at Manchester all those years ago are clearly a driving factor as he looks ahead to Glasgow 2014 — but he is looking for more this time round.
‘That’s maybe half the reason — sentimentality — getting another chance at it because Manchester was my big break. I got a pro contract off the back of doing well there and it really was a kick start,’ he said.
‘We didn’t do too badly there. We won the Bowl Final, which was good for us at the time but a Commonwealth medal, if we can do that, would definitely be a career highlight.’
Scotland may have invented Sevens but their recent history has been far from glorious. They are perennial strugglers on the IRB Sevens circuit and their poor form four years ago meant that they came within a whisker of being left at home for the Delhi Games.
In the end, they managed to scrape together team capable of finishing creditable sixth, but are expecting to do better this year.
This summer’s squad contains four full internationals in Lamont, Tommy Seymour, Richie Vernon and Lee Jones, plus a number of frontline players from Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors such as Roddy Grant, James Eddie and Mark Bennett. Sprinkled in amongst all that are some experienced Sevens specialists, like skipper Colin Gregor, Scott Riddell and Colin Shaw.
The Scots finished fourth in the Glasgow leg of the IRB World Series at the start of the month and this squad looks stronger than that one. However, the draw has not been kind.
They are in the same preliminary pool as New Zealand (the undisputed kingpins of Sevens rugby), Canada (the team which defeated Scotland in the semifinals at Scotstoun three weeks ago) and minnows Barbados.
If Scotland make it out of the group stage, however, their chances of getting amongst the medals are improved by the absence of the Fijian Sevens team — who have been excluded from the tournament despite the fact that the full suspension from the Games imposed after a military coup in 2006 has been lifted.
Organisers say ‘operational difficulties’ in redoing the draw means that one of the greatest and most popular Sevens nations will not be in attendance. It is a shame but Lamont insists that the competition won’t be devalued by Fiji’s absence.
‘They have got great flair and are genuinely a fan favourite but, once the tournament starts, the atmosphere will take over. When the event is up and running you won’t think about things like that,’ he said.
‘We’ve got our opener against New Zealand and imagine turning them over, it would be a hell of a confidence boost. But we know Canada are a tough side, then Barbados are the unknown and you have to be damn careful of unknowns in Sevens because Kenya were unknown for a while and have become quite a force.’