THE absence of those currently in the Southern Hemisphere has not served to remove all quality from the final leg of the Borders circuit to ensure that the Jed-Forest Sevens will provide an afternoon of real entertainment.
Kelso are the holders, having beaten Jed in the final last year and have an unassailable lead in the ''King of the Borders'' series and with the likes of Bob Hogarth, Johnny Wearne, and three Laings in the side should progress from the first round where they face Boroughmuir.
The chase is on for the lucrative runner-up spots, with Hawick in second place and likely to progress at the expense of Currie and they could be followed by Gala, who face Stirling County.
The tie between hosts Jed, with Clarke Laidlaw, Kevin Amos, and Michael Dungait in the squad, and West is harder to call.
Melrose facing Glasgow Hawks looks like the tie of the first round with the Greenyards 10 including Andrew Purves, Scott Nichol, Mark Moncreiff, and Chris Dalglish, but the Hawks have the wiles of Cammy Little allied to the pace of Chris Simmers and Ally Common.
The Watsonians squad has Scott Hastings and Melrose player of the tournament Marcus di Rollo outside Jamie Weston and look likely to be too strong for Peebles.
Although Tennents are withdrawing as title sponsors after this year, they will not be breaking links with the tournament as they will remain official brewers for the Jed Sevens for the next three years. First-round draw:
Kelso v Boroughmuir, Jed-Forrest v West of Scotland, Gala v Stirling County, Langholm v Heriots, Hawick v Currie, Melrose v Glasgow Hawks, Watsonians v Peebles, Stewart's Melville v Selkirk, first tie kicks off 1.30pm.
qPhilippe Sella will make his final bow at Twickenham today - where he scored a Test try on his first appearance 15 years ago - when leading a World XV against English champions Newcastle for the Sanyo Cup. Sella, who has amassed a world-record 111 caps, retires from top-class rugby a fortnight after clubmate Michael Lynagh bade farewell when Saracens won the Tetley's Bitter Cup.
Saracens player Francois Pienaar is sorry both have quit while clearly still at their peak. ''Philippe proved he's still the perfect centre in attack and defence with his display in the cup final,'' said Pienaar, one of four South African forwards in the World team, who are aiming for a hat trick of wins in this fixture.
Two years ago, the World beat Leicester 41-30 and last season triumphed 52-31 against Wasps. The World team's coach, Australia's World Cup leader Bob Dwyer, said: ''This squad has had as much international experience as any Test team currently playing. But we need to be sharp as Newcastle are a tough, determined team who take no prisoners.''
Newcastle coach Steve Bates intends fielding his strongest available team: ''We want to be the first English champions to beat the World team.''
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