Wins for Melrose 1883 and Kelso’s Dwain Patterson at rugby’s 2026 Geneva International Sevens
Melrose 1883 followed up their second-placed finish at last year’s Geneva International Sevens with a plate final victory at the Swiss rugby competition this time round and Kelso’s Dwain Patterson was also among the weekend’s winners.
Captained by Patrick Anderson and with Iain Chisholm as head coach, also making up their travelling squad were Miguel Reina, Scott Clark, Ben Pickles, Connor Spence, Robbie Orr, Zander Mactaggart, Adam McGowan, Douglas Crawford, Callum Anderson, Sam Derrick and Gregor Christie.
They played three pool games on Saturday, day one of the two-day contest, losing 17-12 to host club Switzers and 21-14 to England’s Scimitar Storm but beating Belgium’s Fizzapapa’s 29-0.
A 19-5 quarter-final loss to France’s South Sevens, 33-12 plate semi-final victory versus the Netherlands’ Mana academy and a 36-0 win against another English outfit, Buckinghamshire’s Hammerheads, followed on Sunday.
Those results saw the Borderers end up fifth of eight men’s team’s in the event’s final rankings, with top spot going to Worcestershire-based Scimitar Storm, featuring Patterson and Mason Cullen, formerly of Jed-Forest, in their 12-strong squad.
Italy’s Nati Scombinati were this year’s runners-up, with French side South Sevens third and Switzers fourth.
Patterson and Cullen’s Storm teammates were Oscar Stewart, Ronnie du Randt, Tom Jevons, Niko Matawalu, Tom Kendrick, Jon Searle, Dan Smith, Cole Swannack, Toby Baldwin and Sam Mercer, with James Peters as head coach.