Cancellation of three more of Borders' rugby sevens confirmed

All having been scheduled for next month, two of them ahead of the Scottish Government’s May 17 date for adult contact sport to resume without any Covid-19 testing requirements as its easing of the latest coronavirus lockdown continues, those confirmations come as a formality rather than as any surprise to fans of the small-sided game.

The only element of doubt was over whether they’d be scrapped altogether or, like Melrose’s sevens, put on hold until later in the year in the hope that lockdown restrictions would be relaxed sufficiently by then to allow them to go ahead.

Both Kelso and Selkirk’s clubs have alternative events lined up for August, though, and with Peebles, Hawick and Gala already planning to stage their sevens that month, spare dates might be hard to come by, so both have gone for the former option.

Norman Anderson, Kelso’s administrator, said: “You never know, we might get sevens at Peebles, Hawick and Gala in August.

“We have no intentions of playing our sevens until May 2022, but the plan is to stage the John Laing sevens for second teams in August and we have a Friday night pencilled in for that event.”

David Nichol, sevens convener at Selkirk, said: “It will come as no surprise to all that we have cancelled our May sevens tournament this year.

“We will continue to follow government guidelines to keep everyone safe.

“Hopefully, we will see you all at our 15s tournament planned for August 28, guidelines and restrictions permitting. Our sevens will be back in May next year.”

A spokesperson for the Jedburgh club added: “Due to current Scottish Government guidelines, like many other Border sevens tournaments that take place in April or May, the 2021 Jed-Forest sevens have had to be cancelled for another year.

“We look forward to welcoming everyone back to Riverside Park for the 2022 Jed-Forest 7s next May.”

Earlston and Langholm’s sevens were cancelled earlier in the year.