Melrose Sevens date for 2024 confirmed ten months in advance in bid to avoid Southern Knights fixture clash

2023’s Melrose Sevens tournament, the fourth round of the competition, were played on Saturday, April 8, the same date as the first round of this year’s Fosroc Super Series Sprint saw the Greenyards club’s semi-professional side beaten 42-10 away by Edinburgh’s Watsonians.

Melrose are hoping to avoid a repetition of that scheduling clash next time round by reminding Scottish Rugby Union officials that the second weekend of April is when the sevens season resumes each calendar year by confirming their date for 2024, namely Saturday, April 13.

Keeping the two competitions apart in the calendar would also offer scope for Knights players to take part in their town’s sevens, as they did in 2022, and that’s something officials at the Greenyards would like to see again.

Tournament director Phil Morris said: “It is the hope of Melrose that early confirmation of our 2024 sevens date will allow us and Scottish Rugby to avoid a clash with the Super Series.

“Melrose Sevens is a fantastic opportunity for our semi-pros to show off their talents in front of a home crowd.

“Many of them tell us they would love to be part of the tournament, and we’d all love it if they are able to participate in 2024.”

This year’s winners, Monaco Impis, have already confirmed their intention to return to the Borders next spring to defend the the 1883 Centenary Cup they claimed with a 26-12 final victory against fellow invitational side Samurai.

Hosts Melrose were the Borders’ last men standing at this year’s tournament, going out to invitational team Speranza 22 at the quarter-final stage, on their way to being crowned as Kings of the 7s for the ninth time.

Morris added: “After the success of the 2023 Melrose Sevens event and format, we are excited to be able to announce our 2024 dates nice and early.

“We are already receiving a lot of enquiries from teams who would like to compete at next year’s Melrose Sevens.

“It’s going to be another special occasion that rugby fans won’t want to miss.

“It was Ned Haig who recognised the need to be innovative all those years ago. Without his imagination and tenacity, and the support of everyone around him, the game of rugby sevens wouldn’t exist today.

“We look forward to building on his pioneering spirit and reflecting on the successes of this year’s tournament as we continue to move the event forward in these changing times for rugby.”

Next year’s sevens tournament will be the culmination of three days of rugby starting on Thursday, April 11.

Tickets and hospitality packages will go on sale soon. For further details, go to https://melrose7s.co.uk/

The next Kings of the 7s campaign begins at Peebles on Saturday, August 6.