Borderer Darcy Graham scores try against world champions on return to rugby sevens but GB relegated after three losses in France

An eighth-placed finish in the third and final round of 2026’s championship at Bordeaux in France at the weekend, following rounds one and two in Hong Kong in April and Spain in May respectively, leaves the Scottish-based GB men’s sevens team tenth on the competition’s overall leaderboard, meaning that they’re relegated to the world sevens series’ second tier next time round.

Director of rugby Ciaran Beattie’s squad, also featuring ex-Melrose scrum-half Roan Frostwick, won two of their matches in Bordeaux but lost the other three, dashing their hopes of survival.

They started off with a 19-14 victory against series champions South Africa last Friday but lost 26-12 to Fiji later the same day.

Further mixed fortunes followed on Saturday as they beat Kenya 14-5 but then lost a quarter-final versus New Zealand by 24-5, with a 29-0 seventh-place play-off defeat against Australia on Sunday ending their tournament.

Hawick’s Graham, 28, scored one of Britain’s three tries against South Africa, with Marcus Kershaw and Finley Lloyd-Gilmour touching down the others and Kaleem Barreto adding two conversions.

Frostwick scored and converted a try against the Fijians, with Charlton Kerr also touching down.

The 25-year-old also kicked two conversions against Kenya after tries by Kerr and Lloyd-Gilmour.

Ben Salmon got Britain’s only try against New Zealand in the last eight but it went unconverted.

Selkirk’s Beattie, 40, was sad to see both his men’s team and GB’s English-based women’s side come up short in France, saying: “We were really disappointed for everyone involved to not finish in the top eight.

“Both teams haven’t been good enough to cross the line over the season ultimately and things haven’t gone our way at times.

“When you’ve only got three tournaments at the end in the world championship, there’s high risk and reward, and unfortunately we fell on the wrong side of things.

“The South Africa game showed what we’re capable of on the men’s side. It was no surprise to me that we beat the top team in the championship as I know we’ve got that in us.

“We were aware we could drop down into sevens two, so now it’s time to reflect on the last year and make sure we’re ready to bounce back.

“It has been a positive year in terms of getting the programme back under way but to not stay at the top level is frustrating.

“Scottish Rugby are really backing the prorgramme and the vision for us is clear since we started in September last year.

“There are a few tweaks to be made but we’re still very keen to use sevens as a development tool going forward.”