GHA will go into their own Braidholm Sevens on Saturday on a high after beating a number of high-quality teams to win the NCS Glasgow City Sevens to conclude the Legacy Sevens Series.
Young players such as George Horne, from Howe of Fife, and Boroughmuir's Damien Hoyland have been among the most outstanding performers, although a number of teams have pulled out late in the day before tournaments.
The series may still have some way to go before it can become a central belt rival for the famous Borders Kings of the Sevens circuit, but the bar has been raised.
The series, which aims to assist player development and increase awareness of sevens ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014, has grown in stature since its first staging last year.
It is backed by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life and Scottish Rugby and the commitment that Howe of Fife have demonstrated in using it as a developmental tool has reaped benefits.
GHA began their challenge in the NCS Glasgow City Sevens at Dumbreck by seeing off Howe, the eventual series winners, 50-14, before beating the hosts Cartha Queen's Park (36-15) in the last eight. They upped their game further to see off pro outfit Glasgow Warriors 32-14 in the last four, their tries coming from Andrew Gillman, Alan Auld, Rangi Jericevich, Niall Cassie and Hefin O'Hare.
In the final, GHA faced a select team, Samurai Scottish, which contained a number of abbreviated-game specialists and had beaten Munster in the semi-finals, but still managed to come out on top by 29 points to 24 – with Gillman scoring a hat-trick, and Cassie and Jericevich also crossing the whitewash.
Jericevich said: "It really was a great day for us. We had managed to get a good squad together [including former pros Andrew Henderson and O'Hare] and we knew it would be a tough match against Howe in round one. Once we saw them off by a bigger margin than we might have expected it gave us real confidence and we just grew from there. To defeat a good Glasgow Warriors side [featuring Scotland cap Ruaridh Jackson] was a highlight, and we're now greatly looking forward to the Braidholm Sevens."
Despite losing in round one at Dumbreck, Howe of Fife did enough over the series to claim the silverware. Their victory in the shield section meant that they accumulated enough points over the five events to beat Boroughmuir to the main prize.
Howe won the Stirling County Sevens and their own event, while also making the finals at Boroughmuir and Hamilton, losing both times to the capital side.
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