The 2018 Melrose Sevens also known as the Aberdeen Standard Investments Melrose Sevens was be the 128th staging of the world’s oldest annual Rugby sevens competition at the home of

Melrose RFC Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnett Re ...

at the Greenyards in Melrose,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on Saturday 14 April 2018. It was played as a male only competition which featured 24 teams in a

single elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

with all the ties from the first round though to the final being played throughout the same day and formed part of the

Kings of the Sevens The Borders Sevens Circuit is a series of rugby sevens tournaments held annually in the Scottish Borders. Originally the circuit consisted of 5 tournaments; Langholm Sevens being the last added in 1908. It is the oldest Sevens circuit in the world ...

series. The later stages of the tournament was televised live for the last time on

BBC Two Scotland BBC Two Scotland ( gd, BBC Dhà Alba) was the national variation of BBC Two for BBC Scotland. It was broadcast via digital television and was the sister Scottish channel of BBC One Scotland and Gaelic-language BBC Alba. Unlike BBC One Scotland ...

and locally, from the first tie right through to the final, on

Radio Borders Greatest Hits Radio Scottish Borders and North Northumberland is an Independent Local Radio station based in Edinburgh, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to the Scottish Borders ...

. The tournament was won by Scottish side Watsonian after they beat the home side Melrose 19-14 in a tightly fought final to win the Ladies Cup for the first time since 1996 and was Melrose’s second consecutive loss in the final.

Teams

The main tournament will consist of 21 teams from across

as well as two specially invited overseas teams from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and the charity team

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

to make a combined total of 24 teams.

Seedings

Sixteen unseeded Scottish sides will enter the competition in the first round whilst the seeded teams which includes the hosts Melrose, the four remaining Scottish teams

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

Jed-Forest Jed-Forest Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team who are based at Riverside Park in Jedburgh. The team was founded in 1885 and currently play in Scottish Premiership and the Border League. Jed-Forest Sevens The club organises the Jed-Fore ...

, Edinburgh Accies and Watsonian the two invited overseas teams and the charity side

will enter the competition in the second round.

Unseeded teams which enter in the First round

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

* Boroughmuir * Cartha *

Currie Currie ( gd, Currach, IPA: �kʰuːᵲəx is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edi ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

* Edinburgh Uni *

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Glasgow Hawks Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06. History In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *''Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by Th ...

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

* Heriot’s * Kelso *

Marr Marr (Scottish Gaelic: ''Màrr'') is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has a population of 34,038 (2001 Census). Someone from Marr is called a ''Màrnach'' in Scottish Gaelic. Etymology The genesis of the name ''Marr ...

* Selkirk * Stirling County *

Peebles Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...

Seeded teams which enter in the Second round

* Edinburgh Accies *

* Melrose *

* USA Tigers * Watsonian

Tournament

The draw for the first and second rounds was made at the Greenyards in Melrose on Saturday 7 April 2018.

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

*''This was the first Melrose Sevens final where the playing time was reduced from twenty to fourteen minutes in line with all other sevens matches.''

References

{{Melrose Sevens Rugby sevens competitions in Scotland Rugby union in the Scottish Borders Melrose, Scottish Borders