Selkirk target ‘Kings’ title after 7s win

SELKIRK captain Gavin Craig believes that his club can still have a “real go” at the Kings of the Sevens title after shocking the opposition by lifting the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Langholm Sevens on Saturday at Milntown when they overpowered Edinburgh Accies in the final.

The winning Borders side had last won in 1925 to add to their 1921 success, and on a cold afternoon, Selkirk also swept aside Carlisle, Watsonians and Jed-Forest in scoring 143 points for an historic victory

“The tournaments have been very close, and now that we have that confidence, we will give teams a good game and that puts us back in the hunt for the ‘Kings’ title,” Craig said.

“We have some very good players and we knew that Alex Blair was the quick man, and we gave him no time on the ball.

“I thought that we were outstanding by scoring around 30 points against each team and our defence was excellent.

“That is the first real tournament that Darren Clapperton has played in for us and you can see the difference. He is outstanding and that was what we were missing, a wee bit of pace.

“It all came together and I am really proud of the boys.”

Selkirk turned round leading 17-5, Scott Hendrie and Nyle Godsmark exchanging tries before scores by Angus Duckett and Callum McColm put them in front. Fraser Harkness used his strength after 
the break to score and convert, and the game was over when Hendrie raced away for his second try. Gavin Craig scored again before Ryan Godsmark got a consolation score for 
Accies.

Not surprisingly, the Archie Smith Memorial Cup for the Player of the Tournament was won by Clapperton, whose pace was crucial in every tie, including three tries against Watsonians and two against Jed-Forest.

Yesterday, meanwhile, Melrose at last got their hands on a trophy with a convincing win over a tired Selkirk in the final of the Peebles Sevens at The Gytes.

Selkirk battled hard and led 10-7 at one time, but Melrose – after defeats by Ayr in the cup final and Gala in the Border League – gave new coach John Dalziel his first silverware 
after taking over from Craig Chalmers.

The Melrose tries came from Callum Anderson, Fraser Thomson, Bruce Colvine, Joe Helps and Andrew Skeen, whose goal-kicking was also crucial.

Clapperton and Gavin Craig were the Selkirk scorers.

Melrose, beaten in the final a week ago at Berwick Sevens, demolished Gala in round one before crushing a weakened Hawick side and making it a treble with a semi-final victory over Jed-Forest, the current Kings of the Sevens holders.