Scotland return to sevens action this weekend with Scottish Thistles taking to the field at the Greenyards, where the game was born, to compete in the historic Melrose Sevens tournament.
Last year, Scotland Sevens was reformed and the programme has been led by Ciaran Beattie, training out of Oriam in Edinburgh along with the Great Britian Sevens programme which has seen Great Britain compete at World Series level.
While Great Britain Sevens prepare for the final two rounds of the World Championships in Valladolid and Bordeaux, a Scotland Sevens development team will take to the field at the Greenyards after Scottish Thistles last won the tournament in 2008 with a team comprising players such as Greig Laidlaw, Richie Vernon and Chris Fusaro.
This time around, Beattie has chosen a team mixed with youth and experience.
Led by Finn Callaghan, who is a contracted Scotland Sevens player, he will be complemented by fellow experienced campaigners such as Freddie Owsley who has represented Edinburgh and Scotland Sevens in the past, along with Stevie Hamilton from Peebles.
There are three Edinburgh Rugby Academy players selected in the shape of Lewis Wells, Sam Leweni and Isaac Coates. Powerful winger Wells has four appearances for Edinburgh and has previously trained with the Scotland national team.
Scottish-qualified scrum-half Brent Jackson will take part in the tournament. He joined Glasgow’s Academy ahead of the 2024/2025 season from the Hollywoodbets Sharks U21s.
Mitchell Newell was in the Scotland U20 squad for this year’s Six Nations and is accompanied in the squad by Glasgow National Talent Pathway players Gregor Johnston and Murray Waugh. Gala’s Ritchie Mitchell will take to the field along with Leo Munro, who has trained with Scotland Sevens and finishes school in the coming months at Stewart’s Melville College.
The Scottish Thistles will play their first match at 10.30am against Musselburgh, with the winner playing Peebles.
There will also be a Scottish Thistles side competing in the Women’s Sevens tournament. Led by Edinburgh Rugby head coach Claire Cruikshank they will announce their squad on Friday.
Scottish Thistles men’s coach Ciaran Beattie said: “To have a Scotland Sevens programme back this year has been brilliant and while we have been competing on the World Series with Great Britain, it’ll be special to play at Melrose this weekend representing the thistle.
“We have selected a good group of players who will really benefit from this experience, at such an iconic venue. We hope that this can become a regular fixture in our yearly calendar to aid the development of our players.
“There have been challenges in our first year of the new programme, starting with a small group of contracted players but we have had a lot of buy in from the players, clubs and Scottish Rugby to make this really beneficial and provide a valuable avenue for players to play and get better.”
There is special motivation for Beattie this weekend for a man who has been steeped in rugby sevens and hails from the Borders, but has never managed to lift the famous Melrose Sevens trophy.
He said: “I daydream about it all the time. I live in Melrose and I walked by the Greenyards on Sunday morning with my son, and we were just getting so excited. He’ll be there with his Scotland shirt on along with the rest of my family. It’s always a big day in the calendar and one we’re all looking forward to. We’ve trained at Oriam all week and will also do our final session at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Friday with Scottish Rugby legend Sean Lamont presenting the jerseys to the team. It all adds to the build-up of what will be a big day for the group.”
Scottish Thistles Squad for 2026 Melrose Sevens
Finn Callaghan (Scotland 7s) – CAPTAIN
Brent Jackson (Glasgow Warriors Academy)
Lewis Wells (Edinburgh Rugby Academy)
Sam Leweni (Edinburgh Rugby Academy)
Isaac Coates (Edinburgh Rugby Academy)
Mitchell Newell (Strathclyde University)
Gregor Johnston (Glasgow National Talent Pathway 3)
Murray Waugh (Glasgow National Talent Pathway 2)
Ritchie Mitchell (Gala RFC)
Stevie Hamilton (Peebles RFC)
Leo Munro (Stewarts Melville College / Watsonians RFC)
Freddie Owsley (Chinnor RFC)
Where to watch?
The tournament will be streamed live on YouTube
