Tenth win at Langholm Sevens for defending Kings of 7s champions Kelso
Melrose’s lead at the top of rugby’s Kings of the 7s table was cut to 11 points by a pool-stage exit at Saturday’s Langholm Sevens.
Kelso have thrown their hat into the ring to defend their title with their first win of this season five rounds in, by 38-12 in Saturday’s final at Milntown against Edinburgh Academical, moving them up from fourth place, 18 points behind Melrose, to joint-second.
That was their second success at Langholm in three years and tenth all told, following prior wins in 1930, 1931, 1934, 1974, 1981, 1997, 1998, 2010 and 2023.
Two of Kelso’s six tries in the final were scored by Robbie Tweedie, named as player of the tournament, with two of the others being touched down by fellow Tweedies Hamish and William and Adam Hall and Frankie Robson also scoring and Dwain Patterson kicking four conversions.
Making up the rest of their squad were Cammy Thompson, Duncan Smith, Ashton Asante, Nik Stingl, Liam Herdman and Mark Wilson.
Getting to the weekend’s final after a 24-12 knockout of Heriot’s in the last four keeps Accies neck and neck with Kelso in joint second place on 25 points apiece, with Melrose – winners at Peebles last August and Hawick and Berwick the weekend before last – on 36, up from 33.
Jed-Forest, previously joint-second with Accies, drop to fourth place, now on 23 points, after losing 26-14 to Kelso in Saturday’s semis.
Peebles are fifth on 14 points, Hawick sixth on 11, Gala and Durham University joint-seventh on ten, Selkirk ninth on eight, Watsonians tenth on six, Berwick and Heriot’s joint-11th on five and Boroughmuir and Langholm sharing 13th place on three.
Kelso beat Hawick and Peebles in their pool, by 14-12 and 19-12 respectively, with the Greens seeing off Peebles by 29-19.
Accies beat Selkirk 20-14 and Berwick 46-0 in their pool, with the Souters getting the better of Berwick by 45-5.
Jed ran up the biggest scoreline of the day with a 75-0 pool win against a president’s VII drafted in as late replacements for Aspatria and they also beat Langholm 33-19 in their pool, with the hosts also beating their president David Patterson’s side, by 70-0.
The other pool yielded a 17-10 victory for Melrose against Gala and a 21-14 loss for the Greenyards side to Heriot’s, with the Edinburgh outfit also notching up a win against Gala, by 33-5.
This coming weekend sees a second double-header, with Kelso hosting round six of ten at Poynder Park on Saturday and round seven following at Earlston’s Haugh on Sunday.
Draws have been made for both, with Kelso’s following a four-pool format, with semi-finals and a final afterwards, and Earlston’s start with preliminary tie pitting the hosts against an Edinburgh University side, then an eight-tie first round, last eight and last four en route to a final.
At Kelso, Selkirk, Jed-Forest and Berwick share a pool, as do the hosts, Gala and Hawick; Peebles, Accies and Heriot’s; and Melrose, Watsonians and Edinburgh Uni.
Peebles play Earlston or Edinburgh Uni, Gala have a derby lined up against Melrose, Watsonians take on Accies, Langholm face Boroughmuir, Selkirk go head to head with Berwick, Kelso are drawn against Heriot’s, Hawick have to try to get past Stirling County and Jed-Forest have been tasked with stopping Melrose co-head coach Scott Wight’s Auld Stars defend their title in Earlston’s round one.