Ex-Melrose winger Ross McCann to be inducted into club’s sevens hall of fame

Ross McCann training with Scotland's Six Nations squad at Edinburgh's Oriam last month (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group/SRU)

The Edinburgh-born 26-year-old, a member of Great Britain’s rugby sevens squad these days, will one of three inductees come Thursday, April 11, the others being former Scotland rugby internationals Carl Hogg and Arthur Brown.

They follow in the footsteps of Kelso’s Eric Paxton, Hawick’s Lisa Thomson and Kenya’s Collins Injera last year and, prior to that, the likes of Keith Robertson, Scott Wight, Calum MacRae, Mark Robertson, John Dalziel, Andrew Ker, Andrew Skeen, Cecil Afrika, Terry Sands, Jim Fleming, 1983’s Co-optimists team, Hawick’s sevens side and the event’s founder, Ned Haig.

McCann started out in XVs, first playing for Edinburgh’s Stewart’s Melville before moving on to Melrose, prior to specialising at sevens, first with Scotland and now Britain, having helped the latter to a fourth-placed finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

He’s kept his hand in at the XV-a-side game, however, being drafted into Scotland’s training squad for this year’s Six Nations, as well as by United Rugby Championship team Edinburgh, as injury cover for Hawick’s Darcy Graham, though he wasn’t selected for any of head coach Gregor Townsend’s match-day line-ups.

“I’m honoured be added to such a prestigious list of players,” said McCann.

“It means a lot to be included in amongst those names.

“It especially means a lot personally, having played for Melrose.”

This year’s Melrose Sevens take place on saturday, April 13. For further details, go to https://melrose7s.co.uk/