MELROSE SEVENS was of the biggest days on the Scottish rugby calendar during the amateur years, and although the advent of professionalism means that the profile of the Borders tournament – on the ground where the abbreviated game was invented in 1883 – has diminished during the last two decades, it remains a major draw for the several thousand fans who flock to the Greenyards each year and continues to provide excellent entertainment for supporters of the grassroots game. 

After the 2020 and 2021 tournaments had to be cancelled due to Covid, the tournament returns today, with a field of 19 Scottish clubs and seven guest sides set to compete for their chance to join the long and distinguished lineage of teams to have triumphed at the Greenyards on the second Saturday in April. 

The Co-Optimists invitational side will provide some stardust to the event with former Scotland 7s captain Scott Wight – who captained the host club to glory in 2011 – having assembled a squad which contains some big international names and a solid cast of Scottish-based professionals. 

Cecil Afrika(the highly decorated and prolific scoring former captain of the South African sevens team), Collins Injera (who has an equally impressive pedigree with Kenya) and Tom Varndell (the former England fifteens winger who is joint top try-scorer in English Premeirship history) are all in the Co-Optimist squad, while James Johnstone, Jack Blain and Freddie Owsley have each featured for Edinburgh this season. Recent Scotland under-20s players Ollie Melville and Finlay Callaghan will look to provide some youthful vigour. 

But the Co-Optimists will face stiff competition from fellow guest sides Seventse (France), Lomaiviti (Fiji), Belgium Rugby 7s, Samurai Rugby, London Scottish Lions and the Army. Meanwhile, Edinburgh Accies (who reached the final the last time the tournament played in 2019), an experienced Jed-Forest ensemble and hosts Melrose will be keen to leadi the home charge for glory. 

“We were very keen to make sure that we didn’t come back in a subdued way,” said tournament director Phil Morris. “We wanted to give it a bit of stardust through making sure we have players here from a number of sides who the supporters can really get excited about watching in action. And don’t forget that there are a lot of very good Scottish players coming to the event as well, who I am sure are also keen to put on a show. 

“People have always been very supportive of Melrose as a tournament and hopefully we can put on a spectacle to remind everyone what a great and unique event it is.

“We believe we have a responsibility at Melrose to ensure that Scotland maintains its place at the heart of the sevens game. We’re trying to showcase the best of Scottish rugby and trying to help promote its profile on the global stage both on and off the field.”