​In pics: Melrose cut gap at top of rugby’s Kings of 7s table to five points

​The Greenyards club won Kelso’s sevens for the second year on the trot on Saturday, beating their table-topping hosts 24-15 in the final.

They picked up another seven points at Sunday’s Earlston Sevens after being edged out 31-28 in the final there by Auld Stars, a new side made up of former Scottish sevens internationals including Melrose’s Scott Wight and Mark Robertson.

Those results – with two rounds left to go, at Selkirk this coming Saturday and Jed-Forest seven days later – leave Kelso five points clear at the top on 47, Melrose second on 42, Gala third on 38, the Souters fourth on 27 and Jed fifth on 18.

Melrose’s route to Kelso’s final consisted of pool wins against Jed by 33-12 and Peebles by 38-14 and a 17-7 semi-final knockout of Heriot’s.

Kelso got there by beating Watsonians 38-0 and Berwick 45-5 in their pool and Selkirk 17-14 in the semis.

The Souters made it into the last four by seeing off a South District Union side by 45-12 and a George Crawford Legacy Trust team by 52-0 in their pool.

Heriot’s route to the semis comprised pool wins by 26-7 against Gala and 31-7 versus Edinburgh Accies.

Saturday’s other pool games were wins by 33-22 for the SDU against the GAC 7s, 19-12 for Watsonians versus Berwick and 24-19 for Peebles over Jed, plus a 14-14 draw between Gala and Accies.

A 31-26 first-round victory against Watsonians, 21-20 last-eight dismissal of a Durham University side and 29-5 thumping of Heriot’s in the semis made up Melrose’s route to Sunday’s final.

Auld Stars got there by beating Earlston 47-0 in round one, Accies by 22-7 in the quarter-finals and Gala by 24-19 in the semis.

Sunday’s other round-of-16 ties yielded wins by 45-7 for Gala against Boroughmuir, 19-17 for Jed versus Selkirk, 36-0 for Heriot’s against the GAC 7s, 31-15 for Edinburgh Uni against Kelso and 52-12 for Durham Uni playing Peebles, with Gala also beating Jed 24-15 in the last eight.

Struan Hutchison, Keiran Clark, Matty Bertram, Elliot Ruthven, Scott Clark, Bruce Colvine, Donald Crawford, Craig Fairbairn, Harry Makowski, Archie Pilcher, Connor Spence and Hamish Weir made up Melrose’s squads for both days.

Joining Wight and Robertson in Auld Stars’ Earlston Sevens-winning squad were Nyle Godsmark, Roddy Grant, Tom Brown, James Johnstone, Alex Blair, James Fleming, Joe Nayacavou and Lee Jones.

Melrose head coach Iain Chisholm was happy enough with the defending champions’ haul of points from the weekend but would have been happier still with a further three, telling us: “We’re obviously disappointed that we didn’t win at Earlston.

“That one came down to a few bounces of the ball and a couple of decisions here and there.

“We’re pretty happy with the bigger picture, though.

“They call this one the moving weekend because if you do well at Kelso and Earlston, you put yourself in a really good position to win the Kings, and you can see that in the margin we’ve clawed back over the last wee while.

“The double-header weekends are really attritional. You’ve got guys emptying the tank on Saturday and then we’re asking them to go out and do the same on Sunday, so we’re really proud of the effort they put in.

“We’ve got 17 points for the Kings of the 7s and that does help toward the bigger picture of what we want to do, and that’s to defend our title.

“We’re in a good spot going to Selkirk and Jed and the guys are up for it.”

Fellow Southern Knights coach Wight was also pleased to pick up a win at the weekend, telling Borders Rugby TV: “We didn’t get it easy. The boys had to work really hard for it but they had a blast.”

Entry to Philiphaugh for Selkirk’s sevens is £15, and the first tie kicks off at 2pm.

The opening round of 16 there pits Kelso against Heriot’s, Melrose versus Accies, Gala against Currie Chieftains, Selkirk against Peebles, Hawick against Aberdeen Uni and Earlston against Jed, as well as Berwick playing Boroughmuir and Musselburgh taking on Watsonians.

See also …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/in-photos-rugby-fans-out-in-force-to-see-melrose-win-2024s-kelso-sevens-4617908

and …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/in-pictures-rugby-fans-flock-to-earlston-sevens-as-kings-of-7s-campaign-nears-end-4618039