Scotland’s supporters are being challenged to outdo their Twickenham counterparts when the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival takes the stage at Murrayfield this weekend, May 30 and 31.

The atmosphere in the stadium will ignite just after 12 noon on the opening day on Saturday as Scotland take the field to face the Auld Enemy in their opening Pool C match of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival.

After a win over New Zealand at Twickenham in their own tournament, England are still in with a slim chance of clinching the IRB Sevens World Series title with a strong finish in the final leg.

Scotland will be hoping to improve upon their milestone achievement after they went out of the competition to England in Sunday’s Cup semi-final at Twickenham – the first time on the IRB circuit that Scotland had reached that knockout stage in a Cup competition. Wins over USA and 2005/06 series winners, Fiji, were complemented by an inspired fight back against Portugal in the quarter-final, when Scotland overcame a 21 point first half deficit.

This weekend is likely to offer the same levels of excitement as teams from across the world arrived in Edinburgh today to the skirl of the bagpipes ahead of the glittering climax to the IRB World Series.

For specific match weekend information, including tickets and access arrangements, please click here.

In its third year, the Edinburgh tournament has showcased some of the most exciting prospects in world rugby and this year is set to deliver another trail-blazing rugby menu.

Scotland Sevens Coach Stephen Gemmell, said:  “There are no easy games in this tournament. Every team has real ability and a competitive edge but Scotland especially have a real sense of belief coming into the weekend.

“We may be the inventors of the game of sevens but that does not give us a God-given right to expect success. However, the experience we have gained this past weekend has really pulled the team together. It is now just a matter of fine-tuning before Saturday.” 

Having travelled around the world on the circuit, Gemmell knows exactly how much of an impact the home support can have on the outcome of a game:

“England’s victory yesterday was a prime example of how influential the crowd can be. When the game got tight, the home support rallied around their team”, said Gemmell.

“We need all the support we can muster this weekend and the home fans will really make the difference.”

Rugby fans will flock from around the world in support of the 16 teams on show. Today the teams were welcomed at Edinburgh Airport to the tune of the bagpipes.

Argentina 7s head coach, Duncan Forrest, said: “We love coming to Edinburgh, it's one of the best cities in the world, it's really beautiful, and we're playing at Murrayfield, a very well known stadium all over the world."

The USA team, coached by Al Caravelli, has not played 7s in Scotland since the World Cup 7s was held here back in 1993.

Caravelli said: "We're hugely looking forward to playing at Murrayfield, not one of our players has ever been to Scotland before.

"Murrayfield is steeped in tradition and we're looking to continue to teach these guys about the spirit of rugby in the home of 7s.

"Besides the rugby Edinburgh is a beautiful city so we're very much looking forward to the entire experience."

Edinburgh Pool C: Kenya, England, Canada, Scotland

Scotland 7s’ Pool C fixtures on day one (Saturday 30 May) of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival: England v Scotland (kick-off 12.09pm), Kenya v Scotland (3.13pm), Canada v Scotland (6.56pm)