Scottish Rugby takes charge of GB Sevens and reveals six new players

Scottish Rugby will run a full-time Scotland men’s sevens programme and take charge of the oversight of the men’s and women’s GB Sevens teams ahead of World Series events.

As revealed by The Scotsman last month, the programme will be based in Edinburgh, at the Oriam sports complex at Heriot-Watt University. It will be led by Ciaran Beattie, who was Scotland Sevens head coach before the team was scrapped and went on to take charge of the Great Britain Sevens side on the world circuit.

There will be six contracted Scotland Sevens players in the new set-up, the most high profile being Damien Hoyland, the former Edinburgh winger who won five full caps. He will be joined by Jacob Henry, another ex-Edinburgh wing who most recently played for Coventry; Finn Callaghan, a former Scotland Under-20 international; Roan Frostwick, a scrum-half who played for Ampthill in the English Championship last season; Matt Davidson, a Scotland Sevens international who has been involved in the GB set-up and Josh Radcliffe, a Scottish-qualified centre from New Zealand who has represented the New Zealand Universities side.

Exposure to international competition

Players from Wales and England will also be available for Great Britain Sevens selection ahead of HSBC SVNS World Series events which begin on November 29-30 in Dubai.

Scottish Rugby will also take charge of the oversight of the women’s Great Britain Sevens team but this will operate predominantly out of England and Wales.

While the core group in the revived men’s Scotland sevens programme is small, it will be augmented by a selection of other players from Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby’s professional academies as well as players selected from the National Talent Pathway which works with players under the age of 20. Players from club sides around Scotland will also be given opportunities to be considered.

The new set-up is part of the high-performance pathway plan designed by David Nucifora, Scottish Rugby’s consultant performance director, who views sevens as a smart way of giving young players exposure to international competition.

Alex Williamson, Scottish Rugby’s chief executive, has also long championed sevens and was keen to bring it back to the country where it all began. The abbreviated game was initially conceived in Melrose in 1883.

“The Sevens World Series is an excellent opportunity to expose our players to international rugby and better prepare them for the demands of professional rugby,” said Nucifora.

“The new model allows us to develop young Scottish players in a full-time training environment prior to exposing them to the world stage by competing for Great Britain.

“Ciaran Beattie is vastly experienced in sevens and will be able to drive the programme forward.”

Beattie takes charge

Beattie’s title will be Great Britain Sevens director of rugby and he is confident the new strategy will deliver.

“In the new set-up we will have Great Britain men’s and women’s sevens teams that will be tournament based and will involve Scottish, English and Welsh players,” Beattie said.

“In between that, as part of the new high-performance player pathway programme we will have a full-time Scotland men’s sevens programme which will allow us to develop and stretch a group of promising young players. These guys will also be available for selection for Great Britain Sevens.

“We are looking to grow our young players and competing on the world stage for Great Britain is a great opportunity. The series weekends are always unbelievable events.

“Having a cohort of Scottish men’s players training regularly together will really help progress the new Great Britain Sevens model and allow us to work with the best Welsh and English players where we aim to perform well on the world stage.

“We have a good selection of core players that will provide continuity but we also have a great opportunity to give a number of other promising players the chance to train and compete at a high level, which will accelerate their development.”

The future of international sevens in the UK was placed into doubt in June after it was confirmed that the Great Britain men’s and women’s full-time programmes were to be scrapped due to financial pressures. Scotland has now stepped in to offer a stripped back solution which allows the GB teams to keep competing on the world stage.

Dates for revamped World Series

The revamped global series features six regular-season rounds leading into a three-event HSBC SVNS World Championship, which will decide the line-up for the 2027 top tier.

After Dubai, the circuit moves on to Cape Town (6-7 December, 2025), Singapore (31 January-1 February, 2026), Australia (7-8 February, 2026), Vancouver (7-8 March, 2026) and USA (14-15 March, 2026).

The three HSBC SVNS World Championship events are in Hong Kong (17-19 April, 2026), Valladolid (29-31 May, 2026) and Bordeaux (5-7 June, 2026).

A men’s Scotland national sevens team used to compete in the World Series but in 2022 they were subsumed into the GB team with England and Wales, with the aim of competing at the 2024 Olympics. However, the GB men failed to qualify for the Paris Games.

There will be no rugby sevens at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The new Scotland squad will visit Malaga for an international preparation tournament later in October where they will compete with other nations, including France, Spain and Germany.

Joining Scottish Rugby in the management team are Sara Davies as GB Sevens Team Manager, Matt Stagg as GB Sevens strength and conditioning coach. Rob Smithson has been appointed as GB Sevens physio.