Scotland posted their biggest ever sevens win against England en route to a Cup quarter-final place and South Africa won the IRB Sevens World Series for the first time in a day of high-octane drama in the sun in the pool stages of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival in front of some 10,000 spectators at Murrayfield today.

With the weather forecast set fair for tomorrow, spectators can buy their tickets for what is sure to be another engrossing day from the Scottish Rugby Ticket Centre, which opens from 9am-6.45pm.  Tomorrow’s first tie – a Bowl quarter-final between France and Spain – kicks off at 10.05am.

Shosholoza, the traditional South African folk song, rang out in the tunnel at Murrayfield as South Africa’s qualification for the quarter-final stages of the Cup guaranteed them the points they needed to win the IRB World Series.

That had to compete with Runrig’s version of Loch Lomond though as the home crowd gave full voice as Scotland ran down the curtain on the day’s entertainment by booking their quarter-final slot with a 26-5 win against the team that has been something of their nemesis, Canada.  In that quarter-final, Scotland will face Samoa at 11.55am tomorrow – high noon indeed!

South Africa completed a momentous day by defeating their age-old rivals New Zealand to top Pool A unbeaten and ensure a Cup quarter-final tie against Australia tomorrow.

A jubilant South African coach Paul Treu said: “We approached Saturday’s first two games as a semi-final and a final. To win the IRB title is massive for us – we’ve been planning for this for a few seasons and it’s a fantastic achievement by a dedicated group of players and management. At first we had a three year plan in place to win the IRB title, to do it a year early is a huge bonus.

“The season is not over yet – we still have the knock-out phase on Sunday – but it’s been a good series for us. We worked extremely hard at our base in Stellenbosch and the total of 17 players we used throughout the season were always switched on and focused.

“Our next aim is to finish the season on the ultimate high and win the tournament here at Murrayfield. It will truly be the cherry on the cake.”

South Africa were not alone in emerging with a 100% record and considerable plaudits from a rousing day of sevens rugby.

In Pool B, Fiji, after their loss in the pool stages at Twickenham last week to Scotland, were back at their imperious best.  Their tally of 107 points from their three ties was the highest of the day.

The Fijians were pushed all the way by Australia in their final tie until a score at the death preserved their unbeaten status.

Fiji’s reward is a quarter-final tie tomorrow against New Zealand.

Personality of the day was Kenya’s Collins Injera, short-listed for the IRB 7s player of the year.  He opened their scoring in each of their ties, bagging four scores against Canada and sparking so much that was invigorating as the Kenyans played with panache.

Kenya scored a try with three seconds remaining to see off Scotland 22-17 in their second tie, Allan Onyango delivering the coup de grace as he followed-up a breakaway, superbly covered by Scotland’s Colin Gregor.

In their final pool game Kenya saw off England 21-14, thus our nearest neighbours – who had triumphed on their own soil last week and who had had a mathematical chance of lifting the World Series if South Africa had slipped up – are consigned to the Bowl competition tomorrow.

Kenya meet Wales – the reigning Rugby World Cup 7s champions – who pipped Argentina in their opening pool match and then recovered from a narrow loss to Samoa and a trouncing of Georgia, to seal tomorrow’s quarter-final match-up.

The Samoans were the final team to remain unbeaten today and they will prove formidable opponents for Scotland tomorrow.

While the international sides were in full flow on the main pitch the festival element was buzzing on the ample expanses of Murrayfield’s back pitches.

Players from the Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow teams, mingled with the participants in skills zones as a Primary 7 Tag Festival and Senior Women’s Club 7s tournament also took place.

Tomorrow’s full-match schedule

Quarter-final Bowl – 10.05am – France v Spain

Quarter-final Bowl – 10.27am – Argentina v Canada

Quarter-final Bowl – 10.49am – England v Georgia

Quarter-final Bowl – 11.11am – Portugal v USA

Quarter-final Cup – 11.33am – South Africa v Australia

Quarter-final Cup – 11.55am – Samoa v Scotland

Quarter-final Cup – 12.17pm – Kenya v Wales

Quarter-final Cup – 12.39pm – Fiji v New Zealand