Watsonians beat Heriot's to clinch Hawick Sevens

Watsonians made it two from two on successive Saturdays by winning the Hawick Sevens yesterday, a week after they triumphed at Melrose. They defeated Heriot's in the final at Mansfield Park, extending their lead in the Kings of the Sevens competition in the process.

Watsonians' Mike Fedo scored a try in the final. Picture: SNS

The Myreside club, together with Heriot’s and Boroughmuir, saved a Hawick tournament which was diluted in quality by National League matches and a League Cup final taking place yesterday that forced Selkirk, Jed-Forest, Edinburgh Accies and Kelso to field weakened sides. Moreover, Peebles withdrew while Melrose rested their leading players ahead of this Saturday’s BT Cup final against Stirling County at Murrayfield.

The net effect was a tournament that came to life only at the semi-final stage. In the first of these Heriot’s, making amends for their early exit at the Greenyards last week, had to fight hard to hold off a gritty Melrose. A try by Callum Marshall settled the tie 24-21 in favour of the Goldenacre men.

Then, in the second semi, Boroughmuir, with tries from Jordan Edmonds (2) and Gavin Welsh, led Watsonians 21-17 with a minute to play, only to see Charlie McKill’s late try win it 24-21 for the Myresiders whose earlier scores came from Ali Harris (2) and Scott McKean.

In the final, tries by McKean, Mike Fedo and McKill for Watsonians and a hat-trick for Heriot’s by Donald Crawford levelled the scores at 19-19 but two controversial refereeing decisions by Ross Mabon resulted in yellow cards for Heriot’s pair Struan Dewan and Iain Wilson, effectively killing the final. Watsonians added tries through Scott McKean and Harris to win 29-19.