Melrose Rugby Club has confirmed four invitational teams that will appear at this year’s Melrose 7s on Saturday 12 April at The Greenyards.
Scottish professional side, Glasgow Warriors will be joined by French Top 14 outfit Clermont Auvergne, Trinidad and Tobago and USA Tigers.
SRU
The remainder of the teams are made up of Scottish clubs Gala, Hawick, Jed-Forest, Kelso, Langholm, Peebles, Selkirk, Ayr, Boroughmuir, Currie, Heriot’s, Watsonians, Aberdeen Grammar Rugby, Dundee HSFP, Glasgow Hawks, Howe of Fife, Edinburgh Accies, Stewart’s Melville, Stirling County and hosts Melrose.
Melrose president, Mike Bleasdale, said: “I’m delighted to announce that Melrose 7s 2014 is again to be sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management and for that I’m extremely grateful. Since the game of sevens was born at Melrose 131 years ago, the game has grown into a global sport, and, as I understand, the fastest growing team sport in the world at this time.
“With the IRB series growing each year, the inclusion in the Commonwealth Games, and for the first time in 2016, the Olympic Games in Brazil, we’re delighted to welcome back Aberdeen Asset Management as sponsors of the tournament where it all started.
“The event will be a 24 team tournament and I’m delighted that USA Tigers, Clermont Auvergne, Trinidad and Tobago and Glasgow Warriors will be our guest teams for 2014.”
Scottish Rugby president, Donald Macleod, said: “It is a source of great pride to all Scots that the legendary Ned Haig gave the game of seven-a-side rugby to the world when it was first played at Melrose RFC in 1883.
“This year, 2014, is a special landmark in Ned Haig’s enduring legacy. Borders rugby thrives on the King of the Sevens circuit and the Ladies Centenary Cup will be hotly-contested yet again at the Greenyards. I hope all the visiting and Scottish clubs enjoy their day at Melrose.
On the international front we also have the penultimate leg of the HSBC 7s World Series at Scotstoun, Glasgow on 3 and 4 May, before the spotlight of the sporting world is focused firmly on Glasgow where sevens will be among the core sports on 26 and 27 July in the Commonwealth Games.
Beyond that we can look forward to the 7s in the 2016 Olympic Games. I wish Scotland every success in Glasgow in May and July.”
In addition to the main event, there will be plenty going on around the Greenyards that weekend. There will be a ladies sevens exhibition match between the semi-final and the final, the club, will once again, be running their junior coaching clinic, the Davidson Chalmers VETS Tournament will be taking place and their will be corporate hospitality organised by Douglas Hardie.
Prize money will again be awarded as follows: Winners – £3000; Runners-up – £1500; defeated Semi-finalists – £1000 and defeated Quarter finalists – £500. In addition the winners and runners-up will receive the Ladies Centenary Cup and Sanderson Salver respectively.
The tournament will also count towards the “Kings of the Sevens” competition.
History
melrose7s
The first Rugby Sevens tournament was played in Melrose in 1883. The game is now played on an global stage and is testimony to its founder in the Scottish Borders town, Ned Haig. Haig is rightly credited with the idea however his employer, David Sanderson, may well have had considerable influence at the outset.
Previous years have included sevens guests Randwick and Manly from Australia, Bay of Plenty from New Zealand, University of Free State and Stellenbosch from South Africa. Europe has been represented by guests from England, France, Portugal and Ireland to name a few. The town of Melrose takes on a carnival atmosphere with the day being considered a main social date in the sporting calendar.
The Greenyards, Melrose Rugby Club’s home ground where 131 years ago the game of 7s was first played and organisation is well under way for the Melrose Sevens tournament 2014.