Before settling in for the long haul to New Zealand, the Scotland 7s squad today took the opportunity to mark 100 days until the inaugural Glasgow 7s which will be held at Scotstoun Stadium in May.

The squad set out from Edinburgh Airport this morning en route to Wellington and then onto Las Vegas, but flanker James Eddie, Glasgow born and bred, said the squad are already excited about playing in front of a sell-out crowd on home soil in the penultimate leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

 Scotland is the birthplace of sevens – the brainchild of Borders butcher Ned Haig, who invented the abbreviated game which was first played at Melrose in 1883.

Today Melrose announced the 20 teams who will compete in the 129th playing of their tournament on Saturday 14 April at the Greenyards.

Commenting from the launch of the 2012 Melrose Sevens, Scottish Rugby’s Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Dominic McKay said: “Sevens is enjoying a phenomenal explosion of interest and participation with the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 2016 Olympics in Rio very much on the horizon.

“Scottish Rugby is immensely proud that Melrose gave the game to the world and in the lead-up to the Glasgow 7s tournament at Scotstoun this May, we will be working with clubs around Scotland to assist in their determination to raise the profile of their own sevens tournaments.”

James Eddie said: “I will be honoured to be able to play in the first Glasgow 7s tournament. We hope to fill the stadium and I hear there are some great plans in place to make it a brilliant weekend.
 
“In sevens you get to play against teams you might not come up against in the fifteen-a-side game and there are teams you don’t expect to be strong who are.
 
“I’m always really impressed when we play New Zealand because they play at such a high intensity. We’re first up against them in Wellington and we know we have to match that intensity, but the atmosphere is going to be great.”

Click here to listen to the full interview…
 

Early Bird tickets for the Glasgow 7s are on sale now at the price of just £10 for those who buy before the end of the RBS 6 Nations (17 March). All concessions are at half the equivalent adult price.  Tickets will be sold for particular stands and designated days, with two-day ‘weekend’ tickets also available. Click here to buy your tickets now.
 
For more information on the tournament and for the latest news on Scotland 7s visit www.glasgow7s.com and follow us on Twitter @Glasgow7s.
 
Scotland 7s will meet New Zealand (2.14am GMT), Samoa (5.30am) and Japan (7.30am) in Pool A on Friday 4 February in Wellington.
 
They then travel to Las Vegas to compete in the tournament on Friday 10, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 February.

Full details of the participating teams at Melrose can be found on the club pages of the Scottish Rugby website this afternoon.