Melrose claim 11th Kings of 7s title despite losing out to Edinburgh Accies in final of first-ever capital round
Melrose are Kings of the 7s champions for the 11th time after making it to their seventh final of this rugby season in Edinburgh on Saturday.
The Greenyards club lost out to hosts Edinburgh Academical 17-12 in that latest and last final but the seven points they banked for making it that far at the capital’s Raeburn Place took them to 77 points from 11 rounds, four clear of five-time finalists Accies, earning them back-to-back titles.
Brothers Donald and Douglas Crawford scored Melrose’s tries against Accies, with Robbie Kent at the double and Robbie Chalmers touching down the other way.
Their route to that final was made up of pool wins by 46-0 against Selkirk and 45-7 versus Stewart’s Melville and a 47-10 semi-final knockout of Kelso.
Accies, hosting a Kings of the 7s round for the first time, got there via group-stage victories by 49-0 versus Musselburgh and 19-12 against Boroughmuir and a 24-0 dismissal of Heriot’s in the last four.
Their respective pools also yielded defeats by 26-12 for Stewart’s Melville against Selkirk and 24-7 for Musselburgh versus Boroughmuir.
Kelso progressed to the semi-finals after beating Watsonians 26-19 and a president’s seven 29-12 in their pool, with their group games also seeing a 40-7 loss for the hosts’ extra side, assembled following a late withdrawal by Peebles, to Watsonians.
Heriot’s made it to the semis after beating Jed-Forest 47-5 and Gala 29-7 in their pool, with Jed also losing out to Gala, by 34-14.
Melrose were winners at Peebles’ sevens last August, Hawick’s and Berwick’s in April and Kelso’s and Earlston’s in May and beaten finalists at Gala’s in April, losing 21-14 to Accies, and on Saturday to add to their 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2022, 2023 and 2025 titles.
Accies – winners at Gala’s sevens in April, Langholm’s in April and Jed’s in May, as well as on home turf at the weekend, and finalists at Melrose seven days earlier, losing 22-10 to the Scottish Thistles – ended up on 73 points, with Kelso third on 58, Gala fourth on 25, Selkirk fifth on 24, Boroughmuir sixth on 22, Watsonians sevrenth on 20, Jed and Heriot’s joint-eighth on 19, Durham University tenth on 13, Hawick 11th on 11, Currie Chieftains and Edinburgh University tying for 12th place on ten and Peebles and Stirling County sharing the wooden spoon on eight.
Making up the rest of Melrose’s squad bdesides the Crawfords were Connor Spence, Ruairi Campbell, Scott Clark, Corey Goldsbrough, Harry Makowski, Hamish Weir, Patrick Anderson and Bruce Colvine.
Also in Accies’ squad were Melrose-born ex-Edinburgh scrum-half Charlie Shiel, Cameron MacDonald, Joe Townshend, Nyle Godsmark, Vincent Hart, Jonny Jones, Ben Grainger and Benjamin Roger.
Melrose coach Calum Anderson was delighted to see his side stretch their lead at the top of the Kings of the 7s roll of honour to five titles, with Jed second on six and Gala, Kelso and Watsonians joint-third on four, telling the Offside line rugby news website: “Overall, it’s been a very long season.
“Today was a great day, and I think over the piece, we’ve been fantastic.
“We just got hit with some injuries, but there’s been such a great appetite to do well.”