Scotland 7s players to compete at Melrose

Members of the Scotland 7s squad will be in action at the second leg of the Kings of the Sevens series this weekend in Melrose.It will be a chance for the players to gain some extra game time ahead of the eighth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series at the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May at Scotstoun Stadium. Elite development player, Lewis Young, will be the only player in a Borders side, competing with his home club, Jed-Forest. Five other professionals will also appear at the Melrose 7s on Saturday (13 April). Youngsters, Alex Glashan and Chris Dean will compete with Edinburgh Accies, Rory Hughes will return to Stirling County and Michael Maltman and James Fleming will be in contention for a run-out with Heriot’s and Aberdeen Grammar, respectively. Fleming said: “I’m really looking forward to playing at Melrose this weekend. The Greenyards is a class venue and the tournament is the most recognised club sevens event in the world and it always pulls in a big crowd. “I was drafted with Aberdeen Grammar at the beginning of the season, so I’ll be playing with them, it’ll be a good challenge being with a new team and to get some added game time.We’re full steam ahead towards Glasgow at the moment and playing in a live event against a full opposition is always invaluable. I might also get a chance to go up against some of the other Scotland 7s players and we can test ourselves against each other.”This is the third time I’ve played at Melrose. It’s always a really good buzz. But, what I really like is this is where sevens started and when you’re on the World Series in Wellington, Hong Kong, Dubai or wherever, you hear the players talking about wanting to play there, so that underlines that it’s really special.”The schedule for the Melrose 7s is as follows (first tie 11.45am):Preliminary Round1 Stirling County v Kelso 2 Currie v Boroughmuir 3 Stewart’s-Melville FP v Gala 4 Langholm v Hawick 5 Watsonians v Glasgow Hawks 6 Selkirk v Aberdeen Grammar 7 Edinburgh Accies v Howe of Fife 8 Dundee HSFP v PeeblesFirst Round9 Ayr v winner of match 1 10 Worcester v winner match 2 11 India v winner match 3 12 Clermont Auvergne v winner match 4 13 Melrose v winner match 5 14 Jed-Forest v winner match 6 15 Heriot’s v winner match 7 16 Saracens v winner match 8