Thistles had a relatively unchallenging passage through the first two rounds defeating Musselburgh and then Peebles before taking on the host club Melrose in the first of the quarter finals. Reknowned sevens performer Freddie Owsley showed his electric pace with a brace of tries in the first half only for Melrose to replay with two from Ruari Campbell and one from Hamish Weir to take the lead. But a try by Isaac Coates settled the tie to take Thistles into a semi final against Kelso.
Without their creative midfield back, Liam Herdman, who was unavalable for the Melrose tournament, Kelso were were unable to challenge Scottish Thistles and in the end tries by Gregor Johnson, Sam Leweni, Murray Waugh, Mitchell Newell and Owsley added up to a 33-5 victory for the guest side, Kelso’s points coming from a late try by Murray Woodcock.
In the final against Edinburgh Accies a brace each by Owsley and Brent Jackson was enough to secure a 22-5 win over Accies whose scores came from Robbie Chalmers and Bobby Beattie, the latter one of four Ayr players drafted into the Raeburn Place squad. For their part it was a disappointing ending for Edinburgh Accies to what had the makings of a dream tournament after dismissing Edinburgh Rugby by 19-12 in the quarter finals and then achieving a dramatic 15-7 semi final win against a strong Ayr side that had defeated guest side, Newcastle Red Bulls, who had trampled over Glasgow Hawks and Hawick before being reined in by the Millbrae men in a tense quarter final tie.
After the final, Accies coach, Kerr Gossman, referenced the difficulties his side had experienced with such high carnage figures. He said: “Losing four boys in the semifinal wasn’t ideal. We were very fortunate to have four boys from Ayr for the final but trying to get them up to speed on the way we play is a difficult one. And when you’re going against a great team, it’s a difficult place to be, but we’re gonna push on for next week. The Kings of the 7s title is still on and it’s our home tournament. We had a lot of standout performances today but hopefully next week’s a better outcome. But we’re proud of what we achieved; a lot of people don’t get to Melrose finals. We’re taking it as a positive.”
By reaching the final Edinburgh Accies have reduced Melrose’s lead in the race for the Kings of the Sevens title to just seven points making it possible that Accies could still seize the crown next Saturday at Raeburn Place. Overall the 2026 edition of the Melrose 7s men’s tournament was engaging for a public that had not connected with the semi pro sides such as Shogun, Monaco Imps and the British Army.
Monaco won the women’s event at the Howden Melrose Sevens. Image: ©Craig Watson www.craigwatson.co.uk
That said the women’s tournament still bore the evidence of this trend to invite such teams. Even the Melrose 1883 side, apart from wearing the host club’s famous jersey, did not showcase local players. Another problem was the odd number (five) of teams in the women’s tournament which necessitated an over-lengthy round robin competition. What emerged was high quality rugby but in truth it was more an exhibition of the women’s sevens game than a captivating spectacle of ties.
Melrose 7s results
Mens tournament: Round 1. Scottish Thistles 33 Musselburgh 7, Durham University 7 Currie Chieftains 17, Newcastle Red Bulls 35 Glasgow Hawks 14 , Stirling County 5 Edinburgh Rugby 17
Round 2: Melrose 31 Gala 10, Scottish Thistles 28 Peebles 0, Currie Chieftains 14 Boroughmuir 19 , Watsonians 10 Kelso 17, Ayr 54 Jed-Forest 5, Hawick 5 Newcastle RB 42, Edinburgh Rugby 38 Selkirk 5, Heriot’s 7 Edinburgh Accies 22.
Quarter finals: Melrose 17 Scottish Thistles 21, Boroughmuir 7 Kelso 19, Ayr 24 Newcastle RB 21, Edinburgh Rugby 12 Edinburgh Accies 19
Semi finals: Scottish Thistles 33 Kelso 5, Ayr 7 Edinburgh Accies 15
Final: Scottish Thistles 22 Edinburgh Accies 10
Teams in the final:
Scottish Thistles: M Waugh, R Mitchell, F Callaghan, G Johnson, M Newell, S Hamilton, L Wells, S Leweni, L Munro, B Jackson, F Owsley, I Coates
Edinburgh Accies: C MacDonald, N Godsmark, J Townshend, V Hart, R Chalmers, R Kent, B Beattie, B Granger, M Wallace, A McGowan, R Orr, G Barlow.
Referee: Chelsea Gillespie
Womens tournament: Round 1 Scottish Thistles 15 Monaco UMUSA 29, Shogun Rugby 0 Melrose1883 36 Round 2 Shogun Rugby 17 Hearts and Balls 29, Melrose 1883 12 Scottish Thistles 29 Round 3 Scottish Thistles 31 Hearts and Balls 5, Melrose 1883 19 Monaco UMUSA Round 4 Scottish Thistles 33 Shogun Rugby 10, Monaco UMUSA 34 Hearts and Balls 12 Round 5 Melrose 1883 43 Hearts and Balls 12, Shogun Rugby 0 Monaco UMUSA 48; Final Melrose 5 Monaco UMUSA 22