Semi-final exit at Jed-Forest Sevens enough to win tenth Kings of the 7s title for Melrose

That takes the Greenyards club 15 points clear of second-placed Edinburgh Academical at the top of the competition’s leaderboard with only one round left to go.

Melrose are now on 65 points, with Accies on 50 after beating their hosts at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park 40-14 in the weekend’s final and Kelso third on 44.

Their latest title win is their tenth all told and second in three years, following on from their last one in 2023.

The current Kings of the 7s campaign concludes at Melrose this coming Saturday, the Greenyards event having been shifted back in the calendar by a month and a half because of the Arnold Clark Premiership season lasting longer than usual.

Accies’ route to their first trophy win of this sevens season consisted of a 24-12 knockouts of Peebles in round one and Hawick in the last eight and a 28-12 semi-final victory over Heriot’s.

Jed made it to the final with wins by 12-7 versus Edinburgh University in round one, 35-19 against Langholm in the last eight and 19-15 to see off Melrose in the semis.

Saturday’s other quarter-finals saw Melrose get the better of Stirling County by 17-12 and Kelso beaten 29-24 by Heriot’s.

They followed first-round victories by 41-0 for Melrose against Berwick, 35-7 for Stirling versus Selkirk, 33-14 for Kelso against Watsonians, 40-0 for Heriot’s facing Gala, 40-5 for Hawick playing invitational outfit Pigbarians and 31-20 for Langholm taking on Musselburgh.

Rory Brogan, named as player of the tournament, got a hat-trick for Accies in the final, with Patrick Ritchie, Max Wallace and Robbie Kent also touching down and Richard Mill kicking five conversions.

Jed’s tries, both converted by Finn Scott, were scored by Mark Glen and Lewis Young.

Making up the rest of Accies’ squad for the final were Max Wallace, Cameron MacDonald, Joe Townshend and Freddie Gibson

Jed’s other squad members were Garry and Gregor Young, Robbie Douglas, Aaron Weatherhead, Robbie Shirra-Gibb, Jamie Hynd and Matthew Palmer.

The squad that got the handful of points needed by Melrose to put them out of reach in pole position were Ruairidh Lindsay, Declan Mulcahy, Patrick Anderson, Callum Henderson, Keiran Clark, Donald Crawford, Connor Spence, Scott Clark and Roly Brett, with Hamish Weir as captain.

Accies captain Mill was delighted to see his side win their first final after losing two – by 19-14 to their hosts at Gala last August and 38-12 to Kelso at Langholm in April – and also making it to four other semi-finals and two further last-eight ties.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he told Borders Rugby TV afterwards.

“It’s been a long time coming. Especially this season, we’ve been very, very close.

“There’ve been semi-finals pretty much every week, getting close to the finals.

“We thoroughly deserved that today.”

Entry to Saturday’s senior Melrose Sevens, the centrepiece of a four-day event, is £37 upwards for adults. For details, go to https://melrose7s.co.uk/tickets/