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Fleming and Scotland Secure First Historic Cup Victory

Fleming and Scotland Secure First Historic Cup Victory

andrew cummins22 May 2016 - 19:59
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Perthshire's James Fleming Crowned in Scotland Cup Victory

"It's unreal, I can't believe it..C'mon the mighty Shire!"
- James Fleming 7's Cup Winner

Scotland scored two tries in the final minute to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and ensure that their first-ever Cup final appearance on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series ended in celebration, breaking South African hearts in the process with a 27-26 victory.

The Scots, who had earlier beaten hosts England and defending HSBC London Sevens champions USA to reach the final, looked out of it after Rosko Specman raced away to score his second try to put South Africa 26-15 ahead, but then came the remarkable finish.

First they created space for Dougie Fife to score in the final minute to keep their hopes alive and then managed to win the restart, keeping their composure with good work from James Fleming and captain Scott Wight before Fife saw his chance, rounding the defence to spark the celebrations.

Scotland had edged a tight first half 10-7 after tries from Jamie Farndale and Wight, the latter coming from the unusual sight of a driving maul, but tries in quick succession from Speckman and Cecil Afrika looked to have swung the final in South Africa's favour. James Fleming and Specman then traded tries, but few in the Twickenham crowd knew what an exciting finish they were in for.

DAY TWO AS IT HAPPENED >>

"I'm ecstatic, it hasn’t really sunk in at the moment," admitted Wight, who revealed Scotland had had photos of recent Cup winners Kenya and Samoa on the wall all week as motivation. "We were a long way behind in the final but the boys stuck on task and we managed to get over the line at the end. It took a massive amount of effort and I'm honoured to say I'm captain of this side."

Scotland's win means there have been six different winners in 10 rounds this season with series champions Fiji and New Zealand winning three each and South Africa, Kenya, and Samoa also one. Fiji had already wrapped up a second successive series title on Saturday by simply reaching the Cup quarter-finals, but they had to settle for fourth place in London after losing Madison Hughes' try gave USA a 26-19 victory.

South Africa and New Zealand finish second and third in the standings behind Fiji to claim a coveted top three seeding for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. At the other end of the table, Portugal were relegated and will be replaced by Japan as a core team in 2016

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