SCOTTISH rugby 7s stand-out Harvey Elms should have been representing his country at Twickenham this weekend.

Scotland were one of 16 countries scheduled to take part in the London leg of the World Rugby Seven Series.

However, the coronavirus has ensured the competition will not be taking place, this month at least, with a trip to France later this month also postponed.

It was a blow for Elms and his team-mates who were looking forward to making the trip south of the border, with a view to capturing a third title in five years.

Elms, who has more than 20 caps and 30-plus tries for Scotland 7s, said: “I love the London leg.

“London and Paris are a couple of the best legs being so close to home and the ones where you get the most friends and family travelling down to watch you.

“The other legs are quite far away and you don’t always get them going to those legs.

“We have had a lot of support down in London, with Scotland’s history there in the last few years [Scotland won the tournament in 2016 and 2017].

“It is quite a big one for us and a shame that it is not happening.”

Elms, of North Berwick, and his team-mates were getting ready to travel back from Vancouver at the beginning of March when the Covid-19 outbreak started to dominate headlines.

Scotland had finished ninth in Canada, with Elms scoring tries against USA, Samoa and Kenya, as well as a conversion against Australia.

The 24-year-old said: “I think it was coming back from Vancouver and I was thinking when we came back it was quite dangerous in terms of how many countries and airports we had been through. I think we just missed the worst of it.”

Trips to Hong Kong and Singapore were pencilled in between the Vancouver and London legs.

They were postponed and are now scheduled to take place in October, although it remains to be seen if they will get the go ahead.

Elms, who represented North Berwick High School and the town’s rugby club, was unsure if the tournaments would take place but said the squad continued to train, albeit separately, with the belief they would kick-off.

He said: “You hear how slowly things are going to take to get back to normal and maybe it is a bit of a long shot. You never know, they could get better quickly. But in terms of where it is and how many countries are involved, you would probably take a guess and say it is quite unlikely.

“We have got to keep training away as if the tournaments are going to happen so we go back in pretty good shape.”

In the meantime, Elms, who turns 25 at the beginning of June, is keeping in touch with his teammates through internet messaging service WhatsApp and Zoom video calls while maintaining his fitness.

He said: “I am actually at my girlfriend’s family’s house, near Perth.

“It is not too bad and we have got a mix of barbells and a squat rack, which is pretty handy.

“I can mix it up and there is a park nearby where I can go running or I can be in the garden.

“The weather has been pretty nice and I’ve been doing little conditioning circuits, which has been pretty good to mix it up from what we would usually do.”