Jed-Forest Sevens: Four-in-a-row for victorious Melrose

Allan Dodds' try in almost the third minute of extra-time not only gave Melrose the BSPC Kings of the Sevens title at Riverside Park, but also the Jed Cup for the first time since 2005 as they edged a thriller 38-33.

Remarkably, Melrose, who did not send a team to the Langholm tournament as it clashed with the Scottish Cup final, had won the previous three events at Peebles, Gala and Earlston.

The double success came at the end of a difficult week for coach Craig Chalmers, who had been acquitted of improper conduct by the SRU.

"We showed great character and commitment in all our ties and to come back and win four tournaments on the spin is remarkable and maybe is one for the record books," he said.

Testimony to the quality of the final was the fact that the player-of-the-tournament award went to a player on the losing side.

Fraser Harkness, who surprisingly has never been selected for the Scotland sevens squad, said: "It was nice to be given this award, but I am gutted to lose the final. We played really well and you could not have asked for any more from the boys. Melrose have not won four tournaments in a row for nothing, but we'll be back next year."

The series, after ten tournaments, went down to the wire with the top two sides playing off for the trophy.

The lead changed hands three times in a final which will be especially remembered for Harkness' chase-and-tackle on Grant Runciman and Melrose's comeback from a 33-19 deficit.

Melrose's final tries came from Callum Anderson, Graeme Dodds, John Dalziel, Scott Wight and James King, while Ross Nixon bagged a hat-trick of tries for Selkirk with Lee Jones, Scott Hendrie and Harkness getting the others.

The winners, who finished on 53 points, picked up the prize of 2000 with Selkirk collecting 1250.

Kelso and Jed-Forest finished in joint third on 44 points with Kelso, thanks to their win at Langholm, collecting 750 and Jed 500.

Selkirk's were also involved in a captivating semi-final in which they fought back from 21-0 down against Watsonians to win 31-26, while Melrose ended the challenge of Jed-Forest 45-0.

Melrose are in sevens action again at Newton Stewart next weekend.