THE KINGS OF THE SEVENS series is really entering the business end of things for 2022-23 with events seven and eight of 10 taking place this weekend. First up is the Kelso tournament on Saturday with Earlston following on Sunday and there is still plenty to play for on the circuit.
Melrose lead the way in the standings with 30 points while Edinburgh Accies are second on 26, Gala are third on 23, Watsonians are fourth on 21 and Peebles make up the top five on 19 points.
Kelso are joint sixth with Hawick on 16 points, but the former go into their own event at Poynder Park still riding the wave of winning the National One XVs title at Highland recently.
Super Series Sprint: Stirling Wolves shoot themselves in foot as Watsonians climb to second
Dan Gamble signs for Southern Knights
They backed that up by winning the Langholm Sevens – beating Edinburgh Accies 17-12 in the final – last Saturday so the players are looking forward to this event.
“The sevens is always a great day down at the club and this year should be no different,” said team manager Neil Hinnigan. “Up until a few weeks ago the priority was fifteens for obvious reasons, but we have a number of talented sevens players at Kelso and they showed that at Langholm.
“They are a hard-working sevens side who will scrap for everything and, as a club, generally, we are hoping there will be a good turnout on Saturday as there is a feel good factor around the place just now and hospitality is sold out, too.”
Melrose, Selkirk and Northumbria University are in Pool A at Kelso with the hosts, Hawick and Stirling County in Pool B, Jed-Forest, Currie Chieftains and Watsonians in Pool C and Gala, Peebles and Edinburgh Accies in Pool D. The event starts at 1.30pm.
The first tie the following day at The Haugh in Earlston will be at 1pm. Rather than a Pool format, the Earlston Sevens is a straight knock-out event and Edinburgh Accies versus Melrose should be a cracker to get the ball rolling.
Kelso then take on Hawick, Earlston face Selkirk, Gala tackle Peebles, Berwick tango with Durham University, Jed-Forest get down and dirty with Edinburgh University, Gala YM put it on the line versus GAC 7s and Boroughmuir do battle with Watsonians.
The addition of the university sides should make things interesting, with Durham particularly impressive in winning the Melrose Sevens 2024 pre-qualifying event at The Greenyards recently, for example.
This is the 100th year that Earlston have played at The Haugh venue permanently and with many people enjoying a bank holiday come Monday a good crowd is expected.
“The sevens is a big thing for our club and a number of volunteers have been working hard to make sure everything is in place for Sunday, they have done a great job,” said Earlston president Neil McDonald.
“With the Kings of the Sevens table being quite tight it should make for some cracking ties while our own players really enjoy testing themselves against players from clubs who are in higher divisions.
“We are looking forward to welcoming all of the teams and all of the spectators and we hope that it will be a day that all of the family can enjoy.”
After these two events, there is Jed-Forest on May 13th and Selkirk on May 20th to come on the Kings of the Sevens circuit.
Super Series Sprint: Stirling Wolves shoot themselves in foot as Watsonians climb to second