The Scotland Rugby Team is in search for a new coach for their Rugby 7s side as Graham Shiel, the current head coach of the team is set to be moved to a new role in the side. Shiel will be looking after the skills and analysis for the team from now on, prompting Scottish Rugby to fast track their search for a new head coach of the Rugby 7s side. The Rugby 7s side of Scotland qualified for the Rugby 7s World Cup to be held in 2013 over the weekend but managed to barely scrape through qualification, occupying the last available spot.

And the national body of the Scotland Rugby Team is extremely disappointed at the way the Scotland Sevens have been performing, and believe that if this is allowed to continue, gunning for a medal at the Commonwealth Games that will be held in 2014 will become a farfetched dream. Stephen Gemmell, the head of performance for the Scottish team was the more prominent figure on the sidelines during the qualifying tournament in Portugal and now, the announcement made by Scottish Rugby that it intends to form a new coaching team is believed to have stemmed from there.

The Scotland Sevens had been under the charge of Shiel, a former international player for the Scotland Rugby Team since 2010. Speaking about a reshuffle of the coaching staff for the Rugby 7s team, Graham Lowe, the high performance director stated that after a review of the results and meetings with the management team, the decision was taken to bolster the coaching set up.

However, with very little time ahead of the World Cup, Scottish Rugby must make up its mind on their next appointment soon or risk the team packing for an early return from the tournament next year.

Alex Dunbar and Stuart McInally have been drafted into the Scotland Rugby Team for the tour of Australia and the South Pacific that the team will undertake.

The pair was initially left out of the squad, having been named in the preliminary squad but an unfortunate injury to John Barclay as well as the absence of Max Evans has opened the door to the squad for them. Barclay suffered a freak accident in practice where he injured his arm but he is expected to take part in the test against Australia that takes place on the 5th of June.

Max Evans also has to conform to his obligations for Castres in the Top 14 and is expected to join up with the side at the end of the weekend. According to Andy Robinson, the coach of the Scotland Rugby Team, McInally has been called up into the squad as a precautionary measure to cover for Barclay if he cannot return to action by the time of the Australia test. He went on to add that Barclay should be available for selection for the test but it was necessary for the team to ensure there was a back up option in case he couldn’t.

He also added that as long as the case with the International Rugby Board, Castres and the French Federation regarding the release of Max Evans is hanging in the balance, Alex Dunbar will be considered as a starting option for the test against Australia.

McInally, the back rower for Edinburgh and Dunbar, the center for Glasgow will have huge boots to fill in the Scotland Rugby Team if they do have to step in but Robinson is confident that they are more than capable enough to pull through with ease and will be good options for the team in the future.

Scotland Rugby team is going through to face France, Fiji and Australia in the pool matches in the sixth edition of the HSBC Sevens World Series which will be organised in Hong Kong.

Scotland Rugby Team has been going through a tough time since they faced defeat in Las Vegas and lost their chance to win the championship. They instead returned as runners up. Scotland Rugby Team sees the HSBC Sevens World Series as a chance to redeem themselves but the task is not an easy one. They have strong opposition in France and Australia.

The Scotland Rugby team has faced France and Australia previously but has lost to both of them on that occasion. They lost to Australia 12-24 in the pool stage in Dubai. They lost to France at Los Vegas which shattered their hope of winning the trophy for a second time. They were defeated by France 22-7.

Scotland Rugby team hasn’t yet faced Fiji. They are a very strong opponent and are ranked second in the International Rugby ranking. The Scotland rugby team’s coach described the teams match drawings as challenging and tough. He said that Fiji is obviously one of the best teams in the World Series and since they haven’t faced them even once, they pretty worried about the match and taking it very seriously. He believes that the admitted that if the team wants to go to the quarter finals they have to overcome a challenging task with every match.

Andrew Turnbull, of London Irish said that the Scottish team will need to have complete faith on themselves and in each other. They have been training hard for the tournament and although the tournament draw is tough, they are ready to take up the challenge and give their best.

Dan Parks has announced his retirement from international rugby just one game into the RBS Six Nations campaign.

An error-strewn display against England at the weekend, where the fly-half was charged down by his opposite number Charlie Hodgson for the match-winning try, will now be his last in a Scotland shirt.

He will be replaced in the starting XV by Greig Laidlaw when Andy Robinson’s side travel to Wales on Sunday.
Parks revealed retirement had been on his mind prior to the start of the Six Nations, but a sense of “unfinished business” against England meant his decision was delayed.
A 13-6 loss at Murrayfield, however, seems to have prompted the decision.

It is a cruel ending to a distinguished international career for the Australian-born Parks, who made 67 appearances for his adopted country, scoring 266 points.
He also holds the Scottish record for drop-goals with 17.
Parks will continue playing club rugby for Cardiff Blues, while he highlighted the 2007 World Cup as his most memorable time in a Scotland shirt.

He earned three man-of-the-match awards in the 2010 Six Nations but slipped down the pecking order during the 2011 World Cup, where Scotland crashed out in the group stages.
Greig Laidlaw, who came on to replace Parks after his costly mistake against England, will start against Wales on Sunday – one of two forced changes for Andy Robinson as Euan Murray is unavailable for selection due to religious reasons.

Laidlaw is the nephew of former Scotland and Lions scrum-half Rory Laidlaw, and the 26 year-old will also take on front-line kicking duties at the Millennium Stadium.

Scotland remain unchanged elsewhere as they seek immediate redemption after failing to convert their possession and territory into points against England. A buoyant Wales side in Cardiff will be a formidable challenge.

The Welsh coach Waren Gatland sees Scotland as favourite against Six Nation title holders, England. The two teams clash on February 4, 2012 at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, for their first match of the 2012 Six Nations tournament.

Scotland will next play away against Gatland’s team during the 2nd Week of encounters, scheduled for February 12. Wales vs Scotland will be played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Wether Gatland backs Scotland against England out of pure interest or her really believes that the Scotts are favourites against the Six Nations defending Champions is hard to tell.

However, Waren motivates that England will line-up a few youngsters and the pressure exerted by the crowd at Murrayfield will cost them the win. He does believe that England will get better and better as the tournament goes on.

Scotland is backed as favourite although Dan Park is not in the best shape of his life. Gatland believes though that Andy Robinson will be able to find the prefect line-up for Saturday’s encounter.

The New Zealender seems to love the Scots especially, with him insisting that this weekend he is about tennis and supporting Andy Murray for winning the 2012 Australian Open title.

Andy Robinson of the Scotland rugby team is quite jovial and happy about the New Year and feels that there is quite a prospect of growth and success for Scotland.

In his New Year message addressed to all the Scotland supporters, he says that this New Year is all about making sure that the club engages in all the age old rivalries formed on the rugby field.

The first match of this New Year with England is definitely filled with a lot of excitement as the fans have not lost their interest in buying the tickets for the match.

Andy definitely promises that the Scotland Rugby team is going to put up a tough competition with the nearest neighbors in what seems to be a grappling encounter.

With this promise, he hopes that the fans grow in the urge and hope and believe in the Scotland team as without their support, the team players do not have the confidence to go and put on a strong and competitive game filled with loads of excitement.

The next game that the Scotland rugby team will be encountering this year is against the last year’s world cup finalists, France and he is sure that with the practice and skills, Scotland will definitely give a tough competition to the champion’s.

However, he hopes that the supporters sport up some form of blue jersey or even a hat pr anything which represents Scotland in some way or the other. Having a full house audience to support them is also on the cards to make sure that they have a full crowd of audience supporting them on every move.

Andy wants the world to know that their supporters believe in the team and are ready to be by their side wherever they go.

Scotland coach Andy Robinson is an outside bet for the role of British Lions coach in 2013, but many in Scottish Rugby fear that should he be selected they could lose him as their head for at least a year. Lions’ bosses are thought to want whoever takes charge of the team for the 2013 tour of Australia to commit to a 12 month period to prepare the Lions and ensure they are in the best possible position to give a good account of themselves.

Robinson is currently fourth favourite to take the role, behind Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Declan Kidney but a strong Six Nations campaign from the Scots could see him leapfrog them to lead the Lions down under. If he were to be successful and committed himself to a 12 month preparatory period Scotland would be without a coach for next year’s Autumn Internationals and the 2013 Six Nations campaign.

Should this situation occur it would be likely the Scots would aim to seek a coach to take a high profile coach to take the role on a temporary or caretaker basis. A 12 month period with no real prospect of any longer term deal would make most within the game reluctant to leave permanent jobs, making Scotland’s task ever more difficult. Sean Lineen, of Glasgow and Michael Bradley, of Edinburgh, would be towards the top of any list Scottish Rugby chiefs may draw up but they would be unlikely to risk the instability it could cause at their respective clubs for a temporary role. This may lead the Scots to look towards recalling former coach Richie Dixon, now heading the Georgian National side. The success he is currently having with the Georgia team and his recent comments about as shift in the power base of Rugby could make him unlikely to accept the role if offered.

For Scotland then a successful Six Nations could prove to be a bitter/sweet moment. Yes they would thoroughly enjoy any success, but the backlash and negative impact on their preparations for the 2015 World Cup could prove too damaging for Scotland fans to bear thinking about.

Scotland rugby union are now searching for a new chief executive. On Tuesday it was clear that times and opinions within Scottish rugby had changed.

His legacy is a much-improved Murrayfield, better business practice and a reduced level of debt.

But his mode of departure told of an actor who’s made one too many curtain calls.

Ex-Scotland international Iain Morrison is now a journalist and followed closely Gordon McKie’s time in charge of the game in Scotland. He believes that disaffection with the chief executive largely centres on his perceived lack of people skills.

Scotland hooker Fergus Thomson is in danger of missing the World Cup due to injury. Thomson, 27, is facing six months on the sidelines after a recurrence of a shoulder injury resulted in the Warriors forward requiring surgery.

“I’m gutted at missing out on the chance to compete at the World Cup,” said Thomson.

Thomson has eight caps for Scotland and featured at the 2007 World Cup.

Robinson expressed his sympathy for Thomson, saying: “It’s obviously disappointing news for Fergus but we wish him a speedy recovery.”

The Glasgow star vowed to make it back into Sean Lineen’s team as soon as possible.