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Winning Melrose Sevens coach Anton Moolman has revealed training with the national South Africa aided his side to success at Greenyards.

Moolman’s Hamilton proved the toast of the Borders on Saturday night after his team had come from behind to beat University of Johannesburg 35-26 in the final.

The coach had previously travelled to Melrose in 1999 as a player with Villager, but lost out in the final to Gala.

“It was always an ambition to come back as a coach, so I got in touch with Melrose when Hamilton won the South African club championship and was delighted when they responded with an invitation,” said Moolman speaking to The Scotsman.

"But then you want to come and do well. We help out Paul Treu (South Africa sevens coach] because they practice in Cape Town and we had a few sessions with them before they went to Hong Kong, which helped sharpen our boys up for this. It has been a great experience for all of these guys, something they will always cherish, but it will be nice to come back and defend it also."

Hamilton traditionally use sevens as a warm-up for the South African 15-a-side season.

One of Hamilton’s outstanding players was Alshaun Bock, whose career with South Africa sevens was ended by successive knee operations. In his heyday Bock was clocked at 10.5 seconds for 100m and finished the tournament's top try-scorer with six outstanding, whilst out-shining last year's star Earl Lewis.

"Earl and I are good friends. We both come from Wellington, near to Cape Town, and have known each other since we were very young, so it is nice to follow him here,” said Bock

"I have played on the IRB world sevens, in places like Hong Kong, but Melrose is special. I am 26 and international sevens is behind me now, and I never thought I would get the chance to play at Melrose, but to come here and to win the trophy is a dream come true. This has been an awesome week."