Scotland on Sunday reports

By DAVID FERGUSON
AT THE GREENYARDS
MELROSE claimed the famous Ladies Centenary Cup for the first time in 13 years with a stunning 31-26 defeat of guest South African side Hamilton in the QUBE GB Melrose Sevens at the Greenyards.
Hamilton coasted through the tournament in glorious sunshine and were intent on retaining the title, but they met a strong Melrose still hurting from their defeat by the visitors last year and intent on claiming a handful of silverware this season. Chalmers' side now have the opportunity to emulate the quadruple-winning side of 1997 but adding the national league and cup and Border League to the sevens title.

Yesterday's final started at a frenetic pace with Melrose veteran John Dalziel knocking-on from the kick-off, Hamilton being penalised for crossing, Calum Anderson launching a terrific break to the Hamilton 22, the ball going loose and Hamilton counter-attacking swiftly for Terry Jacobs to open the scoring.

Melrose exploited Hamilton indiscipline to hit back with a try by skipper Scott Wight, but the holders were back in the lead inside a minute with some strong running by Willem van der Wal setting up the field position for Jeffrey Williams to nip over. Poor passing by Melrose seemed to squander a four-on-one, but Anderson rescued it to race between two defenders to score, and Wight converted being going off for stitches to a bad face cut.

Melrose lost Scott McCormick to a hamstring pull early in the second half and had a knock-on by Benji Adams to thank for regaining possession, which Anderson again turned into a score, sprinting home from halfway roared on by an appreciative Greenyards crowd.

Dalziel then regained ball from the restart, underlining his fine ability in the air, and Jamie Murray broke up the right to create a two-on-one, and timed his pass to Wight beautifully to give the skipper a run-in to the posts with seven minutes to go.

Both teams looked comfortable on the ball and Hamilton always dangerous, and their captain Alshaun Bock took his tally to ten tries with a fine run, but Melrose hit back again with Allan Dodds cutting through a gap and beating Jandre du Plessis to the line.

Du Plessis was yellow-carded for lunging at Dodds with his boot as he swallow-dived over the line – he had done the same with Anderson at the first try – and though Janno van Zyl scored again, referee David Changleng sparked a mass pitch invasion with the final whistle.


The tournament as a whole was entertaining from the opening tie with Dundee proving a surprise packet, the presence of Glasgow professional Peter Horne, a product of the Howe of Fife club, a key factor in their fine form.

A Horne hat-trick set the on their way to victory over Watsonians, a side featuring a host of experienced sevens performers, but Horne was fuming after being penalised in the dying seconds of the second round tie with Jed-Forest as the Borderers held on against a fightback to win 26-21.

Under the scorching sun the extra round took its toll on the combatants more than ever with only Glasgow Hawks of the first round sides making it to the quarter-finals. They did so by overcoming Aberdeen GSFP in the first round and then seeing off Kelso, despite losing their Scotland sevens veteran Mike Adamson to a bad head gash. The Hawks eventually came to grief in the last eight at the hands of Waikato, the New Zealand provincial sevens champions of 2010, who had already cruised past Currie.

Hong Kong Scottish took a half to find their feet in the second round against Boroughmuir, unsurprisingly having only arrived on Friday, but looked set to coast into the quarter-finals when racing into a 21-12 leading the second half, former Scotland sevens cap David Tait scoring twice. However, there was real drama at the finish when 'Muir, well-served by Edinburgh scrum-half Ross Samson, hit back with a second try by Robert Cairns and then broke down the left side in the final seconds, created a two-on-one and Matt Walker out Cammy Orr in for the tie-winning try, only for referee Iain heard to rule it out for a forward pass and blow the final whistle.

The new Hong Kong team only enjoyed one more tie, however, losing to Jed-Forest in the first of the quarter-finals, which delighted the locals in the crowd by ensuring an all-Borders semi-final and a familiar name in the final. The Greenyards atmosphere had moved up a gear – for lengthy spells it seemed like the sun had dried up the crowd's vocal chords – when the hosts Melrose came out of the tunnel to take on Borders rivals Hawick in the second round.

Melrose made quick work of their opening tie despite ferocious defence by Stuart Hogg, Hawick's Glasgow professional, in particular. The centre denied 'Rose several tries, but Melrose still ran away with a 38-0 win. Melrose continued where they left off in the quarter-final against Selkirk, playing some superb sevens to leave the Souters trailing 33-14.

Melrose: J Dalziel, J Murray, G Dodds, S McCormick, S Wight (capt), A Dodds, C Anderson, G Runciman, F Thomson, C Jackson.
Hamilton: W van der Wal, D Robertson, B Adams, E Seconds, J Williams, J du Plessis, M du toit, A Bock, J van Zyl, T Jacobs.
Ref: D Changleng.

This article was posted on 10-Apr-2011, 06:27 by Hugh Barrow.