In the week that Rugby Sevens will learn whether it will join the Olympic Games programme, the nation where the sport was created 126 years ago have been on a recce to India as part of their planning for the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Scotland headed out to New Delhi, which will become only the second Asian city to host the quadrennial Games next October, for a week-long training camp with captain Scott Forrest admitting the trip to a country where rugby continues to grow has been very beneficial for the squad.
"We've seen projected images online of what everything here is going to look like, but at the moment it's a bit hard to tell because a lot is under construction," Forrest told Total Rugby.
"There is a lot of excitement over here, you really get the impression that everyone knows what they are building towards.
"The ground we're training at is one of the pitches at the university where the Games will be held for rugby and there's a lot of interest when we train. I certainly wouldn't say we're stars here, I think you need to be play cricket for that but there's a fair amount of interest.
"To be able to bring out an actual squad and train and play out here is so much more valuable than just sending out a team manager. That feedback from the players will be really beneficial for us.
"It's a long way away but there will be members of this squad who will be coming out here for the Commonwealth Games so to have this experience under belts is only going to help us."
Massive step forward
With Scotland also building up to the start of the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series in Dubai at the beginning of December, the Sevens team have taken a big step forward with Forrest one of three players on full-time Sevens contracts with the Scottish Rugby Union.
"It's a massive first step forward for Sevens in Scotland," admitted Forrest of the contracts for himself, Michael Adamson and Colin Shaw.
"Ideally you'd want a whole squad because you've seen what can happen then with the likes of South Africa who went on to win the Series, but we're delighted with this and hopefully we can build on this next season."
Forrest, like the whole rugby family around the world, is eagerly awaiting the International Olympic Committee's vote on Rugby Sevens' inclusion in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro and believes a positive outcome will provide the sport with a "massive opportunity" to reach new heights.
"It would be great for everyone involved in rugby and Rugby sevens to be part of the Olympics, it's the biggest sporting event in the world and for any sport's athletes to get a chance to compete in that is huge," he added.
"We've seen over the last few season the improvements already made by the so-called developing rugby nations, the likes of Kenya, USA, Portugal ... if rugby does get in it will help every nation step up again.
"It would be a massive opportunity for the sport and a lot of people would want to take part in that."
