Against a backdrop of doubt over Scotland's participation in the IRB World Sevens and the future existence of the Scots squad itself, the Melrose Sevens today at the Greenyards offers the opportunity for the short game to emphasise its important place in rugby.
Of course it was the Melrose club that invented sevens rugby and consequently the annual tournament at the Greenyards, part of the Kings of the Sevens competition, is very much about tradition. But Melrose has always tried to be different from the other tournaments on the Borders spring circuit by bringing in guest sides to increase both the quality of play and the entertainment value.
Today Glasgow Warriors are back to defend their title with a side headed by scrum half Niko Matawalu, likely to be one of the stars of the tournament. The Warriors' side, captained by James Eddie, also lists Hugh Blake, who has familiarised himself with the Greenyards in several games for Melrose, recent Scotland sevens cap, Fraser Lyle, and the former Gala stand-off Gregor Hunter.
Warriors are in the lower half of the draw and will face a challenge from North West University from South Africa at the semi final stage and from Germany and Wasps who are both in the upper half of the draw. London Wasps, listing several of their academy players, are expected to be in the mix at the later stages as are Germany, who proved themselves adept performers on the European Grand Prix circuit last season.
To expect all four guest sides to reach the semi final stage, however, would be to ignore the strength of club sides. Ultimately professional fitness, strength and pace should prevail, but the history of the Melrose Sevens shows that Scottish club sides can rise to the occasion.
Both of the Premiership finalists, Heriot's and Melrose, are using the event to keep their front line players mentally and physically sharp, resisting the 'cotton wool' philosophy, and instead looking for hard matches that could results in upsetting the seeding. Heriot's, however, have a difficult first round tie with the runners-up from last Sunday's Gala tournament, Jed-Forest, who field four Scotland sevens caps. The winners of this match will then face North West University.
Melrose, the current Kings of the Sevens, will play the winners of the opening tie between Glasgow Hawks and GHA. Meanwhile it is Gala, having won their own tourament, who lead this year's 'Kings' competition. The Maroons, with pace in the form of New Year Sprint winner Craig Robertson and fellow track specialist Jamie Parker could test Glasgow Warriors in the quarter finals on a day when sevens rugby will want to showcase itself.
Melrose draw: Glasgow Hawks v GHA - winners v Melrose, Aberdeen v Peebles - winners v Wasps,Watsonians v Boroughmuir - winners v Hawick,Stewarts Melville v Ayr - winners v Germany, Kelso v Langholm - winners v Edinburgh Accies, Jedforest v Heriots - winners v North West University, Selkirk v Currie - winners v Gala, Dundee v Stirling County - winners v Glasgow Warriors
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article