Galashiels to host second round of rugby’s Kings of 7s this weekend

​Gala Sevens, part of a wider two-day Maroon’d festival at the club’s Netherdale ground for the third time, follows on from Peebles’ tournament earlier this month.

The competition takes an eight-month break after that, resuming at Melrose on Saturday, April 13, next year.

Kelso are currently top of the contest’s leaderboard after coming back from being 17-0 down with three minutes left to play to beat Hawick by 21-17 in the final at Peebles Sevens.

That puts the Poynder Park club on ten points, with the Greens second in the table with seven, Edinburgh’s Watsonians third with five and defending champions Melrose, Peebles, Gala and Selkirk next, all on three.

Gala won their own sevens at Netherdale last year for the first time since 2015.

Tickets for the festival cost £5 for adults and £3 for youngsrers aged 12 to 18. They’re available online at www.galarfc.com/maroond or at the gate tomorrow and on Saturday.

This year’s tournament has been slimmed down to an eight-team format, reduced from a dozen previously, and it’ll be the hosts, a Scottish army side, Melrose, Selkirk, Jed-Forest, Peebles, Kelso and Hawick competing, with the likes of Edinburgh Academical and fellow capital side Watsonians dropping out.

They’ll play in two pools of four, with semi-finals and a final to follow.

Gala, Peebles, Kelso and Hawick are in one pool and Melrose, Selkirk, Jed and the soldiers’ side in the other.

Explaining that move, a club spokeperson said: “We have chosen to run an eight-team senior tournament this year due to previous years’ issues caused by late withdrawals of teams in a 12-team format.

“We have prioritised Borders teams’ involvement and have included 2 Scots Army as they have supported the tournament in the past when teams have withdrawn in the final week before.

“It is unfortunate that there are teams that will not be participating this year, especially some who have also been very loyal to both Gala and the wider Kings of the 7s circuit, but ultimately when you are organising a community rugby event with over 60 rugby teams playing from P4 up to senior rugby, the organising committee need to secure certainty to ensure the smooth running of the event.”

Accies, winners at Gala in 2019, and Watsonians, victorious in 2017 and 2016 and also four-times Kings of the 7s champions, most recently in 2019, are both unhappy about their exclusion, fearing it will impact on their chances of winning next year’s overall title.

A Watsonians spokesperson said: “We are hugely disappointed not to be invited to compete in the Gala Sevens on Saturday for the first time in its history.

“We are proud not to have missed a Kings of the 7s event since its inception. As a club, we invest a lot of time, resource and budget into supporting the Borders’ sevens circuit and will continue to do so.

“Naturally, we would hope that not having the opportunity to compete at Gala on Saturday has no bearing on our chances of competing fairly for the Kings of the 7s title this season.

“We’ll be seeking clarification from the Border League regarding how the decision impacts on the Kings of the 7s tournament.”

An Accies spokesperson added: “The club are extremely disappointed by the news that we, alongside Watsonians, have not been invited to the year’s Gala Sevens due to a change in the tournament format.

“The result is that we will only be competing in nine of this season’s Kings of the 7s tournaments despite our consistent support of the competition since its inception.

“We hope, of course, that this will not affect our ability to challenge for honours, as we have done in recent years.”