THE SOTSMAN REPORTS

SRU's folly exposed as Melrose event proves a runaway success
DAVID FERGUSON AT THE GREENYARDS
IF THERE is a better advert for domestic rugby in Scotland than the Melrose Sevens, one has yet to find it, and on a gloriously sunny Saturday one of the world's finest players was quick to agree.

The renowned alacrity of Joe Roff, the 86-times capped Australia winger, was confined by injury to off-field duties on Saturday, but he was as slick in picking up on the SRU's decision to move the first IRB world sevens tournament in Scotland from Melrose to Murrayfield in June.

When asked what he thought of his first Greenyards visit, Roff replied: "It sure as hell beats a tournament in a half-empty Murrayfield."

Roff left his homeland in 2004 with a World Cup medal from 1999, several Tri Nations and Super 14 bits of silver, and an historic series win over the British and Irish Lions in his back-pack to broaden his horizons in Europe. After two seasons with Biarritz and a bit of surfing in the Med, he applied to study at Oxford University.

Unsurprisingly, on beginning a two-year post-grad course, he was invited to be the rugby team captain and led them, albeit in defeat, in this season's Varsity Match. He would have played at the Greenyards on Saturday, where the university showed some style in reaching the semi-finals, had he not suffered a knee injury captaining the Barbarians against the Army last week.

He said: "I accepted straight away that the knee would rule me out of Melrose, but when you actually get here and feel the atmosphere ... it's disappointing not to be playing. Mind you, looking at the speed of some of the young guns, I'm probably better off watching. But it's been a real privilege to be here. I've been aware of the decision to move the IRB sevens to Scotland because I'm a huge fan of sevens and I love Scotland; I don't understand why it's not at Melrose.

"Top players from all around the world would love to come here because everyone in rugby knows Melrose is where the game started."

So widespread is the renown for this event that many players like Roff will have picked up on it before arriving here. It was a real surprise, then, that the SRU, which maintains it is considering moving the event to its birthplace next year for the 125th anniversary of the first tournament, did not send a delegation from the 27-strong board.

Dee McIntosh, the SRU's communications director, said yesterday: "Gordon McKie [chief executive] was in Glasgow at the Scotland U18s game, Andy Irvine [president] was on holiday, Allan Munro [executive chairman] can't remember an invite coming his way and I have no idea whether Bill Baillie [new SRU sevens manager] was there or not.

"George Clark [Division 1 representative from Boroughmuir] was there. He paid for a ticket and went as he has done for many, many years; he has Borders links and represents the Borders on the board, so the board was represented."

The ignorance of the Melrose tournament shown by the union's decision-makers, when turning down the offer from national and local bodies of £2 million to host a world event in June and switch to Murrayfield, was underlined on Saturday by a crowd of 12,000. McKie told organisers, including EventScotland, Melrose RFC, enterprise and council bodies, to lower expectations from 10,000 for a world sevens as it was too optimistic; when they reluctantly agreed, he said it would be too costly.

For some enlightenment McKie's board could speak to the most important stakeholders in the game: the players. Hanru Haupt has played for South Africa in the IRB World Sevens Series in Brisbane and Wellington, and he was in tears after leading his fellow students from the University of the Orange Free State to a 17-10 final win over reigning champions Newcastle.

Newcastle included young Scots Cammy Johnston, Scott Riddell and Max Nimmo, all as desperate to win at the Greenyards as they are to become professionals, yet it was clear how much this triumph meant to the far-travelled South Africans, playing under the university's nickname "The Shimlas".

Haupt, whose university has produced 59 internationalists and boasts 400 players, said: "I am retiring from rugby now to concentrate on a career as a chartered accountant. I have represented my country at sevens, which was a great honour, but this is as special for me.

"Melrose is just an awesome place; the atmosphere is awesome; the crowd is awesome and they carried us to this."

The Shimlas and Haupt first tasted Melrose's distinctive atmosphere last year, but were knocked out in the semi-finals. This time they defeated good Scottish sides in Heriot's - who ran them the closest - Gala and Watsonians to face a Newcastle team that had beaten Aberdeen, Glasgow Hawks and Oxford.

There was a clear difference in the power and pace of the finalists and the rest of the field, and the final 20 minutes, decided by a try from Shagan Windvogel, was an entertaining example of the height sevens is achieving.

This article was posted on 16-Apr-2007, 07:15 by Hugh Barrow.