Two of Scotland’s most experienced international sevens players, Jamie Farndale and Robbie Fergusson, will retire after stellar careers.
The pair, who have between them scored nearly 1,300 points on various iterations of the World Rugby SVNS series, made their debuts in 2015 and 2017 respectively, and have combined to make more than 560 matches on the circuit for Scotland or Great Britain.
Both Farndale and Fergusson are previous Scotland 7s captains; have appeared at two Commonwealth Games; and each would have featured at consecutive Rugby World Cup Sevens, were it not for Robbie missing the latter event for the birth of his second child in 2022.
Their decision comes after Great Britain narrowly missed out on the Olympic Games, losing out to South Africa in the final of last weekend’s repechage competition.
Fergusson made his World Series debut in Dubai in 2017 and in his first season on the circuit, won the Impact Player award in the season’s final event in Paris after scoring points in each of Scotland’s five matches.
Fergusson, 30, began his rugby career with Ayr and represented Scotland at age-grade levels through to U20, featuring at two Junior World Championships in 2012 and 2013.
His rugby development was curtailed on being diagnosed with cancer but after chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Fergusson returned to rugby in October 2014.
While he represented Glasgow Warriors in the 15-a-side format, it was on the international sevens circuit that he made his name.
A playmaker who led from the front, he was named Scotland 7s co-captain, with Farndale, ahead of the 2018/19 campaign, before being given the sole honour by then-new head coach Ciaran Beattie the year after.
His eye for detail and ability to put others around him in space did not detract from his own try-scoring threat, with Fergusson notching 87 tries from 256 World SVNS Series matches, as well as 81 conversions for a career tally of 597 points.
Fergusson said: “7s is an incredible environment to be part of and I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to do it for this long.
“Off-field the memories and friendships I have made will last a lifetime.
"On-field, making the Olympic squad for 2020 is a career highlight with the work that went into getting selected for that and more recently, beating Australia in Singapore to keep Great Britain on the World SVNS Series circuit was very special.”
Farndale, meanwhile, is the all-time leading Scottish try scorer in various guises of the international sevens series.
The former Edinburgh Academy pupil joined Edinburgh Rugby on a development contract straight from school, becoming the club’s youngest debutant and representing Scotland at three Junior World Championships.
He scored 136 tries on the World Sevens Series in 302 matches for Scotland and Great Britain.
Away from rugby, Farndale's other passion lies in sustainability and in particular what the world of sport looks like in the future as it tries to combat, amongst other issues, climate change.
His studies on sustainability at Cambridge University also led to him winning the Varsity Match earlier this year,
The 30-year-old said: “I am so grateful for the experiences that rugby has given me and the people that I’ve met along the way.
“There are so many moments that will live with me forever.
"In terms of a highlight, it is hard to look past becoming the first and only Scottish team to beat the All Blacks on the way to beating England in their own back yard to lift the trophy at Twickenham in 2017. That day was so incredibly special!”
Ciaran Beattie, under whom both Fergusson and Farndale led Scotland, paid tribute to the pair, saying: “I’ve worked with the pair of them since they were part of the Scotland U20 set-up and our paths have crossed throughout their rugby journey.
“It’s been a privilege to see Robbie and Jamie grow into the players and people that they have. They’re exceptional human beings, have always helped others coming through and they represented Scotland with distinction.”
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