William Wardlaw and Ewan Miller are looking forward to leading the PROJECX Waterboys in the International Open event at the Dubai Sevens in the coming days.
It all starts on Thursday and the Waterboys – the Scottish-based select team who give up-and-coming players the chance to play in tournaments around the world – also have a team in the International Social event.
The squad for the International Open campaign – which begins at 6pm on Thursday (2pm UK time) against Moscow Region – features core Scotland Sevens player Mungo Mason and players from Watsonians, Boroughmuir, Houston SaberCats, Edinburgh Accies, Tring, Marr and Dumfries.
Leading them will be Boroughmuir centre Wardlaw and Dumfries back-row Miller, both seasoned Waterboys’ campaigners.
“It’s exciting to be named co-captain for the Dubai tour, I’ve captained the Waterboys a couple of times in the past, but you could describe Dubai as the jewel in the crown of sevens and we have a lot of support out here and with being last year’s winners there’s a bit of pressure on us,” Wardlaw, 28, said.
“I have been lucky enough to be involved in 10 tournaments with the Waterboys now and travelled to places in the world I probably never would have seen otherwise so I’m very grateful for the opportunity.
“This will be my fifth time playing in the Dubai tournament and it’s a 3 day event for us with two games a day so it’s different from what you might expect from a tournament in Scotland. The intensity of the games can be a quite high all the way through the tournament as a result and you generally don’t know the players your up against too so that makes all the games a fresh challenge.
“In terms of our squad, well it looks exciting. We have a Scottish qualified player from a professional team in America [Kieran Farmer] joining us so it will be interesting to hear about his experiences over there and also to see what he can bring on the pitch.
“We also have some consistency in our squad selection with the likes of Kerr Gossman, Ewan Miller and Scott Bickerstaff which means there is already some understanding between players and we are not having to start from scratch.”
Twenty-five-year-old Miller stated: “I am very proud to be named co-captain of the Waterboys for this tour. The Waterboys have had a lot of success over the past couple of years using a large group of talented Scottish players so it’s an honour to lead the boys in Dubai and hopefully repeat the success of last year.
“The Waterboys have given me the unique opportunity to travel the world playing sevens. It has allowed me to visit cities and countries I would otherwise never get to visit and experiences and its always great fun getting to know the boys on each tour.
“Quite often it’s boys you’ve played against for years and it’s cool to get the chance to play alongside each other and make memories along the way.
“I’m expecting a tough competition in Dubai. We’ll have to perform at our very best if we are to repeat last year’s victory. As defending champions the challenge will be even harder.
“I feel last year we had the element of surprise, but this year the pressure will be on from the first minute – I’m sure the pressure will help us perform to our best.
“I am looking forward to catching up with the boys and getting to play alongside a few new faces.”
PROJECX Waterboys International Open squad:
Charlie McKill Watsonians
Kerr Gossman Boroughmuir
Kieran Farmer Houston SaberCats
Ruairi Campbell Edinburgh Accies
Sam Barnes Tring
Scott Bickerstaff Marr
Scott McKean Watsonians
Will Wardlaw (C-C) Boroughmuir
Mungo Mason Scotland Sevens
Rory Steele Watsonians
Tom Wilson Boroughmuir
Ewan Miller (C-C) Dumfries
Once again PROJECX, International Power and Water Investments, JA Resorts & Hotels, Ace Property Management, Sarcogent Solutions, Orion Systems, 4 Navitas and Bureau are supporting the Waterboys team.
They also have a range of new sponsors including Cold Town Beer (Signature Pubs), Arbikie Distillery, and KW Special Projects with Akuma Sports as the equipment supplier. Waterboys Rugby support the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and gifted the main sponsorship space to the foundation.