Law firm backing veterans event

MELROSE have secured sponsorship for their veterans’ ten-a-side tournament this year as the attraction of stars of yesteryear continues to grow.

The Borders club launched a veterans tournament (for over-35s) two years ago as part of the wider celebrations around Melrose’s 125th Sevens and it has proved to be something of a popular event.

Ulster won the first title with many of the side that won the 1999 Heineken Cup final, but were beaten by a Border Reivers select last season that featured a host of familiar Borders internationals. This year the focus is on club sides, with leading clubs Melrose, Glasgow Hawks and Edinburgh Accies involved, but also teams from as far afield as Millbrae, Orkney, Ledbury and the Cayman Islands entered.

Davidson Chalmers, a specialist firm of commercial lawyers practising throughout Scotland, have agreed to sponsor the event, which will be staged on Friday, 9 April with the main sevens event the following day.

The main event is being staged with a Forces theme as a tribute to the work of British soldiers around the world, so the British Army sevens team, which competes in the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham and features a host of Fijians based in Edinburgh, will be a guest side along with teams from South Africa, Italy and the top Scottish clubs.

Mike Dalgetty, Melrose RFC president, said: “There is a very real sense among people about how much our soldiers are putting on the line in the name of serving this country, and we are using the occasion to celebrate the strong links with our Scottish regiments going back over many years.”