Delight as Melrose end 13-year wait for sevens glory

It had never been done before and has never been achieved since, but after watching his team claim the first of those four on Saturday, ending a 13-year wait for another Melrose Sevens triumph, Chalmers admitted he believes this group is capable of emulating the feat over the next 16 days, starting with the Scottish Cup Final against Ayr on Saturday.

The Melrose team that swept all before them 14 years ago included players such as Derek Stark, Rowen Shepherd and Peter Wright, as well as a core of locally produced international talent, including Chalmers, Bryan Redpath, Graham Shiel and Carl Hogg. There are no full internationalists involved now, but a similarly ambitious group built around a solid home-grown core.

Chalmers said: "That was quite a special team with a lot of good players, but the key then is the same now for me - good depth in the squad and confidence. You saw that with the sevens win. We have had good players and good teams in the past, but maybe not a strong squad, and you can't win a sevens tournament without a squad, and we've had players with the ability before but not coming into the tournament with the same confidence as this side.

"This group has real ability and we have depth. There were guys watching the sevens who were good enough to have been part of that squad, and so you feel for them, but they have big roles to play in the next couple of weeks.

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"This has been built up over a number of years - it doesn't just happen overnight. John Dalziel has the forwards really well drilled now and all the experiences the players have picked up has pushed them towards this.

"Some players never get there, so I'm delighted for this squad, especially guys like Scott Wight and Graeme Dodds, who have played in sevens finals before and finished on the losing side. To see them get there is fantastic.

"There's no doubt that this squad is capable of matching what we did in 96-97, but it's a huge challenge. After the sevens celebrations die down I'll be reminding them that you are only as good as your next game.The sevens is past now, no-one can take their medals away, but there are big games for this club to come now."

Wight, the Melrose captain, and Dodds typify the experiences that Chalmers spoke of, two local boys who have consistently stood out in the club game but for whatever reason have not been given opportunities at the pro level. They are a pair of talents that probably would be at the heart of a Borders professional team had the SRU the finance to keep it going, but their disappointments are helping to fuel the Melrose charge now.

Wight, a top performer for the Scotland club international side, said: "I have had offers to go down south and play in the English Championship, but the salaries for a first-year pro are around 16,000, and I have a family with two children, and earn more than that as a joiner, so I have stayed here.

"Obviously, I would love a crack at Ednburgh or Glasgow, but I've been told again this year that the coaches there don't think I'm good enough, even though they're looking for stand-offs. You do wonder what might have been had the Borders still been there because Rory Hutton got a raw deal at Edinburgh too. I'm 26 this year and I see them looking at guys at 17 and 18, so maybe the chance has gone.

"But I have really enjoyed playing at Melrose and successes like this do help. It was some feeling walking up those famous steps to receive the cup, cheered by 10,000 people, thinking about how I used to watch great captains doing that when I was five or six. I have never felt anything like it in my rugby career.

"But it's down to a great squad here, great coaches and a great committee and volunteers. We want to keep it going now over the next few weeks. We've played in the British and Irish Cup this year and will be involved next season, and that was a great experience, and now we've got another cup final and then a league match, and the Border League, to look forward to. I reminded Chick (Chalmers] this week that we could actually beat his side and claim five, with the 'BSPC Kings of the Sevens' now too... but maybe that's pushing it."

The shine of a Melrose Sevens success one suspects will never dull, Wight and Dodds admitting that victory in a pulsating final battle with Hamilton, the South Africans who won the trophy last year, was the stuff of dreams.

Dodds enjoyed it with his elder brother Allan, the first siblings to play in a winning home team since Ivor and Jim Hogg in 1952.He said: "It was a cracking final, and I think both teams were goosed playing in that sun, but we just had enough left in the tank.

"As a kid here you don't grow up dreaming of lifting the league trophy or the Scottish Cup, but of getting your hands on the Melrose Sevens cup so this is too big an honour to put into words really.

"Like Wighty, I came here for years as a kid watching great players like Chick, the Redpaths and the rest playing for Melrose, the famous Kelso teams, Chris Paterson, Gregor Townsend, and guys like David Campese, Bob Skinstad, Breyton Paulse and other famous names all performing, so it's been a dream to play in finals here. To actually win one is incredible.

"I remember after losing the 2009 final I said to Chick it would never come my way, and he said 'you will get there', and he's been proved right. I'm quite relieved because all through the week people have been saying they knew we'd do it, that we were favourites, and there was a bit of money on us, so I'm glad we got there for them too. Now, we all want to carry it on to next weekend, and the weekend after, but Ayr are going be very tough. Nothing comes easy does it?"

It rarely does, especially with a club like Ayr now presenting a formidable hurdle to Melrose's cup and league aspirations, but after a stuttering club season the form of both clubs is set to ensure an exciting finale.