Scotland have failed to reach a Cup quarter final in the 2011/12 HSBC Sevens World Series, a record that John Houston hopes they will be able to set straight before their home crowd at the Emirates Airline Glasgow Sevens this weekend.
Houston, the Scotland A player making a return to the Sevens fold, cites the Cup quarter final as the home side’s target on day one at Scotstoun Stadium and two victories from their Pool D meetings with Wales, South Africa and Russia.
“Playing for your country is a great honour, but playing at home, especially in Sevens, is something that is really special,” admitted Houston. “It makes a huge difference when you have the crowd behind you.
“Every time I have played at Murrayfield with the Scotland crowd there, when you run out you just suddenly feel much more invigorated and ready to go and if you can get an early try and the crowd gets behind you it makes a huge difference.
“I expect it to be a really vocal crowd. We were at the stadium and it’s much smaller than Murrayfield obviously and they are hoping to get close to capacity so I think the atmosphere here has the potential to be a lot better than Murrayfield has been.
“We have done well the last four or five years at home in Scotland. On the circuit this year the boys haven't qualified for a quarter final so that will definitely be our aim this week.
“It’s not the end of the road if we don’t (achieve it) but I think in terms of the way the Scotland Sevens want to progress and how they have obviously improved this season it is really important.
Momentum key for Scotland
“Graham Shiel is doing a great job as coach, he has changed a few things up and I think really he deserves to have a team in the quarter finals.”
If Scotland are to realise their quarter final target and perhaps match their Cup semi final appearance of 2009 then both Houston and Scotland national fifteens coach Andy Robinson are united in the belief a good start against Wales is vital.
“It’s crucial (we start well),” insisted Houston. “We need to win two out of our three games on day one ... but we are not looking any further than our Wales game at the moment, we have got to target a win on Saturday morning.”
Robinson added: “The biggest thing is that the team play for the whole 14 minutes in each tie. If they do that, they’ll undoubtedly be able to qualify for the next stage and that will be a huge achievement for the squad.
“It’s about how you start. Get a good start and get off to a great performance against Wales then that will help the Scotland Sevens team to gather momentum and with any run it’s about getting momentum.
“If you look at what has happened at Murrayfield at the Sevens over the last couple of years, the team have really performed well on home soil.
“With the experience that’s being brought back in with Jim Thompson and John Houston added to the squad, I think it will really give the team confidence and give some of the younger players that little bit of confidence that they know they have players around them that have reached some real highs in Sevens.”
Tickets are still available for the event on both days, but supporters are encouraged to get theirs quickly as they are being snapped up fast. Visit www.glasgow7s.com/buy-tictets.
