In photos: Kelso win Kings of 7s title despite losing to hosts in Selkirk Sevens’ final

The Poynder Park club lost out to their hosts by 33-24 in the final but the seven points they picked up for making it that far take them 11 points clear of Gala at the top of the competition’s leaderboard, putting them out of reach with only one round to go, at Jed-Forest this coming Saturday.

This year’s title win is Kelso’s first since 1998 and fourth all told, their others having been back in 1996 and 1997.

Selkirk’s victory in the final – with a squad comprising Fraser Anderson, Josh Welsh, Ross Nixon, Robert Cook, Aaron McColm, Ryan Cottrell, Lachlan Ferguson, Blake Cullen, Callum McNeill and Oliver McClymont – was their first at their own tournament since 2018 and seventh this century.

Their route to the final consisted of a 31-7 first-round knockout of Peebles, a 43-0 thumping of Berwick in the quarter-finals and a 35-15 win against Jed in the semis.

Lining up against them in the final were Cammy and James Thompson, Andy Tait, Frankie Robson, Harry Borthwick, Dwain Patterson, Nik Stingl, Archie Barbour, Robbie Tweedie and Angus Roberts.

Kelso got there with wins by 21-14 versus Heriot’s in round one, 21-10 against Edinburgh Academical in the last eight and 19-12 over Gala in the semi-finals.

McColm, Welsh at the double, player-of-the tournament Cottrell and Cullen scored the Souters’ tries, four of them converted by McColm.

Patterson scored two tries for Kelso, with ex-Southern Knight Borthwick and James Thompson also touching down and Patterson adding two conversions.

Saturday’s first round also saw Jed beat Earlston 39-0, Hawick lose out by 19-10 to a president’s VII, Berwick knock out Boroughmuir by 29-12, Gala see off Currie by 28-12, Musselburgh lose 31-26 to Watsonians and Melrose go out to Accies by 26-12.

The day’s other last-eight ties were a 31-0 victory for Jed against a president’s VII and a 31-12 knockout of Watsonians by Gala.

Melrose and Gala were both still in contention for the title at the start of play but the former’s early exit and latter’s last-four knockout ruled them out.

Selkirk coach Michael Jaffray was delighted to see the Souters notch up their first win of this campaign, telling the Offside Line: “It’s always good to win your own tournament.

“We’ve had bad luck this season. We played well at Melrose but picked up a few injuries to key players, and that’s continued – we get one back and then lose two – so we’ve not really had any consistency.

“The boys have put a lot of graft in. However, I’m disappointed that we’ve not had consistency previous to this.”

See also …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/in-photos-sunshine-brings-out-bumper-crowd-for-selkirk-sevens-4625793