Scotland’s 7s dreams of a medal suffered a blow in their quarter final this morning as they came agonisingly close to a semi-final place but lost out 7-10 to South Africa.

“We gave it absolutely everything and in the dying seconds we almost turned it into a victory so we’re gutted at the moment,” Andrew Turnbull said.

South Africa took the lead through their captain Paul Delport in the second minute but the Scots held tight in defence and replied with a Mike Adamson try and conversion in the dying seconds of the half to nudge ahead 7-5.

Turnbull continued, “Qualifying yesterday got us into the top group which was great but we’re disappointed not to progress further. We’re now into the plate so we’re out of the medals but want to finish as high as we can.”

South Africa’s second try came from an overlap in attack with Ryno Benjamin crossing the line, but the 2008/2009 IRB Series champions once again missed the conversion which almost proved extremely costly.

Scotland dug deep and with a minute to go, John Houston broke the line and with Scott Riddell in support, the crowd thought the winning score was coming. Houston went for the line, was brought down and South Africa managed to scramble back possession and play out the dying seconds for the win. They’ll now progress to the semi-finals to play Australia.

Coach Stephen Gemmell conveyed the teams’ disappointment saying “I am immensely proud of the boys. They bounced back from yesterday’s defeat to New Zealand and to be one pass away from a semi-final is a great achievement. It was a great team effort. South Africa put us in a position to make a final decision in the last passage of play and we just didn’t get it right.”

He continued, “I don’t think anyone gave us a chance against South Africa going into the game and I can only take my hat off to the guys for their performance. They’ve now got to pick themselves up and go against Kenya to show what they can do.”

The plate semi-final beckons for Scotland against Kenya. Should they come out on top, they’ll face either Wales or Samoa in the plate final to determine 5thposition.

Gemmell will bow out as head coach of Scotland at the end of this campaign and he reflected on his time with the squad: “It’s been a great opportunity to work with these guys and a win would have been a nice way to finish it. But all credit to the boys: they’ve given everything for each other, their country and for me. I can’t ask any more. The plate would only be a consolation but it would be great to take it home.”