Victory at Jedburgh secures ninth Kings of 7s title for Melrose

There’s still one more round of the competition to go, at Selkirk this coming Saturday, but Melrose’s 26-19 victory at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park at the weekend puts them 15 points clear at the top of the contest’s leaderboard, with 55 points after nine rounds, and out of reach of second-placed Gala.

That win, their first at Jed since 2018, confirms the Greenyards side as the most successful team in the 29-year history of the competition with nine titles to their name, three more than their hosts.

Their route to the final consisted of a 33-14 first-round win against Watsonians, 36-14 knockout of fellow capital side Boroughmuir in the last eight and 19-14 success against Edinburgh Academical in the semi-finals.

The five points they’d have earned for making it into the last four would have sufficed to secure the title but they went on to take ten for beating defending champions Jed in the final and are now setting their sights on a further ten points at Philiphaugh this weekend.

It’s their first title since 2014 and that nine-year wait for overall sevens silverware had been too long, according to skipper Struan Hutchison, also vice-captain of the South of Scotland team that beat Edinburgh at XVs in Galashiels in rugby’s revived Scottish inter-district championship four days previously.

“Everyone’s absolutely delighted with that result,” he told Borders Rugby TV afterwards.

“We knew we were eight points ahead of Gala going into this tournament but we just took it one game at a time and thankfully we managed to come away with ten points, which secures the Kings of the 7s.

“It’s massive to get that first Kings of the 7s since 2014. Melrose have always taken sevens very seriously in seasons gone by.

“To get that first win for years, and it’s a lot of people’s first Kings of the 7s, is massive. For me and a lot of the squad, it’s our first one, so we’re so happy to have got it wrapped up here and we’ll go to Selkirk next week and see how we get on.”

Defending champions Jed got to the final via a 47-5 round-one win against a president’s VII assembled to take the place of Currie Chieftains following their withdrawal a few days previously, 38-0 thumping of Selkirk in the quarter-finals and 26-5 knockout of Kelso in the semis.

Saturday’s first round also saw Peebles beaten 28-7 by Accies, Hawick getting the better of a Maltese international team by 20-14, Gala seeing off Highland 26-0, Selkirk edging out Berwick 19-15, Kelso knocking out Musselburgh with a 37-7 scoreline and Langholm losing 31-14 to Boroughmuir.

Hawick lost 31-5 to Accies and Gala by 24-19 to Kelso in the day’s other semis.

Accies are third in the table ahead of this weekend’s tenth and final round, on 34 points, six shy of Gala. Kelso and Watsonians are joint fourth on 29. Jed sixth on 27, Selkirk seventh on 24, Hawick eighth on 22, Peebles ninth on 19 and Berwick bottom on six.

Selkirk’s first-round draw pits Gala against Musselburgh, Jed versus Langholm, the hosts against Linlithgow, Peebles versus Watsonians, Melrose against a president’s VII, Hawick versus invitational charity side Hearts and Balls, Berwick against Accies and Kelso versus an Aberdeen University team.

Jed won last year’s Selkirk Sevens on their way to claiming the overall title, defeating their hosts 24-12 in the final, and will be hoping history repeats itself to give them their first victory of the current competition.

Entry to Selkirk’s sevens – postponed from Saturday, May 6, due to King Charles III’s coronation and rugby’s Scottish cup final that day, is £15 for adults and £10 for concessions.

Proceedings get under way at 2pm.