Roxburgh out of sevens

Roxburgh is out of the games with a knee injury

Kelso's Adam Roxburgh has been forced to withdraw from Scotland's rugby sevens squad for the Commonwealth Games.

The 32 year-old flanker sustained a knee injury in training.

He will be replaced in the squad by Ross Ford of the newly-formed Borders club.

Roxburgh, a sevens veteran with eight full Scotland caps, will be missed by the Scotland team.

He has competed in the Dubai Sevens, 1993 RWC Sevens and has won three Kings of the Sevens titles with his club, Kelso.

In 1997 he won the Middlesex Sevens as part of the Barbarians team and has played for Scotland twice in the Hong Kong Sevens in 1998 and 1999.

Edinburgh-born youngster, Ford, usually plays as a blindside flanker at 15-a-side but has also played at No 8 and openside flanker.

He is a product of Kelso RFC and the Scottish Institute of Sport.

Ford has also captained both South and Scotland at under-16 level and has represented Scotland under-18 in the Four Nations Tournament in Wales.

The Scots have been drawn alongside New Zealand and Canada in arguably the toughest group for the rugby sevens tournament in Manchester.

Tournament favourites New Zealand are expected to top the group, and with the minnows of Niue Island making up the numbers, the Scotland-Canada game is likely to decide the second qualifying spot for the quarter finals.

The rugby sevens looks destined to be one of the blue-riband events of this summer's Commonwealth Games, played out on the final three days at the City of Manchester Stadium, 2-4 August.