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Waisale Serevi’s final playing swansong came to an abrupt end on Saturday in front of the adoring Melrose RFC sevens fans. Turning out in the unlikely colours of Leeds Metropolitan University, Serevi’s involvement at the Greenyards lasted just one tie, his side falling at the first hurdle as they were beaten 22-12 by Scottish champions Ayr.

Disappointing as that may have been for the thousands of spectators who packed into the picturesque ground where seven-a-side rugby was born 126 years ago, Serevi himself was sanguine about the outcome.

“I don’t regret anything in my life,” said the man who has long been recognised as the greatest sevens player ever. “That is what rugby is all about: sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do all my life. The goal was to come to Melrose and it didn’t matter if I spent five minutes or a whole day on the field. This is where sevens rugby started and it is part of my life because sevens has made me the person I am today.”

Taking his leave, Serevi must have been reassured that the sport has a bright future as he watched Earl Lewis, the blisteringly quick University of Johannesburg wing, inspire his side to a 35-21 victory over an experienced Melrose outfit in the final of the tournament.

It was the fourth time in six years that a South African side had lifted the trophy, following in the footsteps of Stellenbosch University (2004 and 2005) and Free State University (2007) with Lewis unquestionably the star of the day. He collected a hat-trick of tries in the final and is firmly on Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu’s radar – the students could easily have struggled against a Melrose side rich in rugby craft and sevens experience but held firm.

The new champions - coached by former Transvaal and Lions wing, and provincial Sevens player Jaco Louw - started the tournament off slowly against Langholm. Perhaps sore from warm-up friendlies a day before, they upped the pace in the quarterfinal against Kelso.

Then Lewis, in combination with the two experienced Lions provincial Sevens players Byron Godfrey and Derich Badenhorst and also Clinton de Klerc, took them to an impressive 38-19 win over Watsonians in the semi final.

It added up to a spicy encounter in the final with the students facing the hosts. Both sides flung themselves at each other. Lewis opened the scoring, but Scott Wight responded in kind with nothing between the sides.

Despite a partisan crowd it was a hat trick from the ubiquitous Lewis, allied to his metronomic conversions, which steered the visitors to a 35-21 win, scarcely reflecting how well Melrose had performed.

Melrose were the cream of a particularly competitive group of Scottish club sides, under the leadership of former Scottish international Craig Chalmers. They had a notable blend of Scots talent such as Dodds, John Dalziel, Scott Wight and David Whiteford with Australian sevens caps Jordan Macey and James Lew, the latter having also had to cope with a period of grieving for his friend and former team-mate, Shawn McKay, the ACT Brumbies player who sadly passed away in Durban last week. Melrose held a minute's applause before Saturday's final in memory of McKay and the Hawick Wanderers stand-off Richard Wilkinson.

‘Rose’ lived up to their favourites billing with a 52-12 defeat of a Hawick side much better than that scoreline suggests, a 14-5 beating of a quality Heriots team, and a 40-5 disposal of Glasgow Hawks, while the all-round competitiveness showed as the semi-finals featured sides from abroad, the Borders, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and underlined the reviving enthusiasm for sevens across the country.

The likes of Kelso, Stirling County, Heriots, Ayr and Glasgow Hawks all had their moments, and all had real sevens stars, who grabbed the chance of green space to show abilities more hidden in XVs. This year saw also saw a Canadian side featured for the first time in the form of Barrhaven Scottish who were soundly beaten earlier on in the day by Stirling County 40-10.

Craig Chalmers, the Melrose coach, has two winner's medals in his collection, and admitted the hosts had missed a golden opportunity.

"We ultimately made too many mistakes in the final and the boys are gutted because they knew it was there for the taking.

"You have to feel for them because they put everything they had into this tournament and played some terrific rugby, and I applaud them for what they produced, but the South Africans were fantastic too, and they earned the medal."

From the winners camp, the undoubted player of the tournament, Lewis, was full of praise for the event.

"It has been an honour to play in Serevi's last tournament, and just to be here. We are all professionals, playing rugby all the time and studying mostly at night for our degrees, so we expected to win and we would have been very disappointed to go back to South Africa having lost.

"Stellenbosch University and the Shimlas have won in recent years and so there is a tradition of South African teams doing well at Melrose and we wanted to hold that up.

"I did not know a lot about Melrose Sevens before this weekend, really, but I have been part of the South Africa sevens squad and have travelled a bit, and this tournament is right up there with any. The atmosphere was incredible; the setting is magnificent; and it is the home of sevens, so it is a great place to come to."

Melrose Sevens Results:

First Round: Edinburgh Accies 19 Boroughmuir 15; Peebles 15 Gala 19; West of Scotland 21 Hawick 22, Currie 17 Glasgow Hawks 21.

Second Round: Kelso 31 Edinburgh Accies 19; Langholm 7 University of Johannesburg 28; Watsonians 33 Gala 14; Stirling County 40 Barrhaven Scottish 10; Melrose 52 Hawick 12; Heriot’s 35 Selkirk 0; Jed-Forest 7 Glasgow Hawks 28; Ayr 22 Leeds Metropolitan University 12.

Quarter-finals: Kelso 5 Uni of Johannesburg 43; Watsonians 19 Stirling County 10; Melrose 14 Heriot’s 5; Glasgow Hawks 24 Ayr 17.

Semi-finals: University of Johannesburg 38 Watsonians 19; Melrose 40 Glasgow Hawks 5.

Final: University of Johannesburg 35 Melrose 21.