With just 8 weeks to go until the first European staged Touch World Cup, the Scotland national Touch squad is ramping up training in anticipation of what they hope will be Scotland's most successful World Cup yet. 

Following a gruelling winter training programme national squads were selected and 3 open age group teams and 4 masters teams will compete against 28 countries at the 7th Touch World Cup to be hosted at Peffermill Sports Ground in Edinburgh on 20-26 June. (www.touchworldcup2011.co.uk)

National Squad Coaching Director Robbie McKenzie said, “Scotland have their best chance yet to achieve on the world touch stage. This has been the hardest selection process to date, the sport is growing rapidly at the grass roots level creating far more competition at the top end”. 

The Scottish National Squad has progressed significantly in world performance over the last 5 years. The men’s open team are current European Champions and seeded fifth in the tournament and have high hopes for a top performance. 

Their world cup preparations included a successful tour to Singapore and Australia. Australia is recognised as the birthplace of Touch which is now the biggest participation sport in the country with some 800,000 participants.  As a result it isn’t surprising they are current World Champions. 

Robbie, part of the touring party noted, “We were up against the best in the world in Sydney. We showed we were competitive but it also helped identify development areas where the game in the Northern Hemisphere can learn a lot from our Australian friends.  It was the perfect preparation for the World Cup.” 

The Scotland teams who are sponsored by Space Clinics are in a great position to challenge for medals particularly with this home advantage. The women’s open and age group sides welcome back new mums Liesel Lippstreu-Holmes and Gillian Kidd who both gave birth less than 7 months ago.  

The mixed open side has also been bolstered by the addition of Carl McWilliam, a former New Zealand rugby sevens squad member. 

When asked how he found the transition from rugby union to touch Carl said, “The basic skills are the same but it is really hard to beat people. In rugby [union] you can run through a loose arm whereas in touch you need to be even more agile, you get stopped in your tracks by them just laying a finger on you!”

Full details of the squad are available at www.scottishtouch.org.uk/national-squad/