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Hawick treat home crowd to win

The latest installment of the ‘King of Sevens’ circuit in Scotland took place at Hawick RFC.

Famous for being the ‘greenest rugby club in the world’ Hawick RFC were hosting their rugby 7s tournament for the 115th time this weekend.

Akin to its more famous brother Melrose 7s, the Hawick tournament takes on a straight knockout format, a stern test for any 7s team in the land. A big name who had been invited for the tournament this year were the Kooga Wailers, part of the Newcastle Falcons 7s team, and after the winners of Rome last year were looking for a good start to their campaign.

The Wailers did not have it their own way and ran up against a Stirling County side who played very disciplined 7s taking the first round win 21-15 and send the Wailers back to Newcastle after only 14 minutes of rugby. The top half of the draw was dominated by Selkirk who reached the final only conceding one try before the semis, where they defeated a tough Gala side 24-19.

In the bottom half of the draw though it was the defending champions and home team who seemed to dominate. Hawick reached the final on the back of some great scores from Graham Hogg. The final was justifiably between the 2 best sides of the day, but with the home support behind them Hawick were always in front and were able to hold off a talented Selkirk side 24-19.

With the crowds turning out in force for a great family day out and with some superb rugby being played, it proves sevens is very much alive in the region. The tournament was sponsored by Plumbline for the first time with goal kicking extraordinaire Chris Patterson speaking in the hospitality.

More Sevens in Berwick

This weekend also saw a busy timetable elsewhere in the borders with the 50th North Berwick 7s and there was another stop on the ‘King of Sevens’ circuit at England’s most northerly club Berwick RFC. Again both tournaments face the unenviable task of taking place the week after Melrose 7s but both rugby communities embraced their tournaments with the offer of a great family day out and some superb borders 7s.
At North Berwick it was a strong Musselburgh side that took the championship with some strong wins over Forrester, Hawick Harlequins, North Berwick Exiles followed by a win over the home side North Berwick in the final.

At the ‘King of Sevens’ event in Berwick it was Watsonians after making the Semi Finals in Hawick on Saturday that took the title and along with it the lead in the ‘King of Sevens’ standings.

Watsonians defeated Melrose 39-24 in a superb final with captain Mike Ker the main man for the men in maroon. Ker led the way with two tries in the match, while Michael Fedo and Richard Minto - who clocked up seven tries on the day - also scored before half-time to make it 29-5.

After the break Melrose fought back, Scotland Sevens cap Graeme Dodds amongst their scorers, but further tries from Fedo and Jamie Blackwood secured the silverware for Watsonians. Praise must also go to 17-year-old winger Grant Somerville who grabbed four tries on the day including two in the semi-final win over King of the Sevens rivals Selkirk.

Watsonians lead the race by 1 point from Selkirk going into the Langholm 7s at this coming weekend.