The feelgood factor returns as the sun puts its hat on at Hawick three-day rugby festival

Hawick talent spotters at the Rugby 7s at Mansfield. (Photo: BILL McBURNIE)

Communities reconnected as Hawick Rugby Club staged a three-day festival of rugby at the weekend.

The Hawick 7s, the second oldest tournament of its kind in Scotland, returned to Mansfield Park on Friday through to Sunday.

And crucially the event was blessed with fine and fair weather throughout.

Aside from the rugby on view, the event was a chance for the ladies to dress in their finery, the boys to enjoy a beer and banter and for everyone to taste a rare piece of normality post-lockdown.

Helene Sinclair, John Fordyce, Borders Distillery, Eleanor Scott and Anne Forrest. (Photo: BILL McBURNIE)

For club secretary John Thorburn the festival was a success and he hailed the “feelgood factor” it generated in the community.

He said: “This was obviously a template for what is going to happen in the future and this three-day event was a glimpse of that.

"It incorporated touch rugby, adult rugby and youth rugby as well, it encapsulated the whole rugby community and it worked very well, especially as the weather was kind, which is always a plus factor.

"It was an opportunity to get out and about again and meet people, just to reconnect again is a key thing for everybody.

Stephen Cook, Marcus Brogan, Johnny McDevitt and Rummel Douglas. Fr: Megan Landells, Amy Taylor, Sarah Murphy-Clarke, Bruce Hodgins and Corey Tait. (Photo: BILL McBURNIE)

"There was a feelgood factor about the days.There was hospitality in the club rooms and a beer tent where a lot of the young ones congregated at and were sitting outside on benches.

"I’d take a guess that a couple of thousand attended over the three days and it was along the same lines as previous years.

"We always had the 7s in April until three years ago when we moved to August and it is now embedded in. It was great to reconnect again.”