Glasgow Warriors successfully defended their Melrose Sevens title after defeating Germany in a compelling final of the 125th tournament that was decided only in the final few minutes of play.
The Scotstoun men, however, had to work hard for their win as their coach, Kenny Murray admitted : "We were perhaps a bit rusty in the first round but we gradually got better. We didn't have X-factor we had last year with guys like Carlin Isles so we had to work hard as a team. But in the semi final and final we defended a lot better and deserved to win the tournament."
Warriors did not have the sheer sprint pace of Isles but they did have Miko Matawalu. The Fijian was Warriors' magician, frequently carving out openings with his mazy and sharp running and showing too that he is an adept defender.
There were also impressive performances from several other players notably Fraser Lyle who showed that he has learned much from being with the Scotland sevens squad this season. Warriors were helped in the final by the drafting in of the Jed-Forest pace man Gregor Young who had earlier excelled for his club until their defeat to the Glasgow men in the second of the semi finals.
Warriors looked likely winners after coming through the rounds with a 31-0 win over Dundee and then in a very competitive tie a 26-12 victory against Gala. Then in the semi final Warriors were tested to the limit by Jed whose side contained four players who have represented Scotland in sevens. But in the end Warriors edged out their Border opponents, winning 17-12.
For their part Germany always looked likely finalists after defeating Ayr 24-10. and then Watsonians by 22-14 before facing the local club Melrose in the first of the semi finals. Germany as they had done in the previous rounds played with accuracy and width that constantly stretched their opponents' defence but at the end it was sheer physicality that gave the Germans their 22-12 win to book their place in the final.
In the final Germany led 21-12 early in the second half before Lyle stabilised the ship with his side's third try. From then on Warriors kicked on with two tries by Young and a further touchdown by Murray McConnell for a 36-21 win and a successful defence of their title.
Melrose Results : First round Glasgow Hawks 22 GHA 12, Aberdeen 19 Peebles 12, Watsonians 19 Boroughmuir 7, Stewarts Melville 7 Ayr 26, Kelso 35 Langholm 21, Jedforest 22 Heriots 5, Selkirk 15 Currie 31, Dundee 24 Stirling County 12 Second round Glasgow Hawks 17 Melrose 35, Aberdeen 0 Wasps 49, Watsonians 39 Hawick 0, Ayr 10 Germany 24, Kelso 12 Edinburgh Accies 17 (after extra time), Jed-Forest 21 North West University 17, Currie 7 Gala 19, Dundee 0 Glasgow Warriors 31 Quarter finals Melrose 19 Wasps 15, Watsonians 14 Germany 22, Edinburgh Accies 17 Jed-Forest 19, Gala 12 Glasgow Warriors 26 Semi finals Melrose 12 Germany 22, Jed-Forest 12 Glasgow Warriors 17 Final Germany 21 Glasgow Warriors 36
Germany A Buchman, C Sortera Merz, C Von Grumbkow, P Mathurin P Szcyesny, F Heimpel, R Greenhaugh, A Kessen, S Rainger, C Anderson
Glasgow Warriors J Eddie, W Bordill, H Blake, T Spinks, M McConnell, F Lyle, G Young, G Bryce, N Matawalu, G Hunter
Referee D Changleng
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