Hawick, Kelso, Selkirk, Peebles, Jed-Forest, Gala and the hosts will enter this year’s 1883 Centenary Cup competition at its second-round stage, along with Edinburgh’s Watsonians, giving them a head-start as they try to reach the ensuing quarter-finals. Ten other Scottish teams, five of them from Edinburgh, and six invitational outfits will contest round one. Edinburgh Academical, Currie Chieftains, Heriot’s, Stewart’s Melville and Boroughmuir make up the capital contingent of the former, alongside Ayr, Stirling County, Glasgow Hawks and Glasgow Academicals, plus expatriate outfit London Scottish, winners in 2019, 1965 and 1962. Half of the half-dozen invitational outfits originally announced have pulled out – the Co-optimists, France’s Vannes and Australia’s Sydney Cavaliers – with Monaco Impis and a British Army team, past winners in 2023 and 2022 respectively, and an academy side from United Rugby Championship team Edinburgh replacing them. The others are as initially billed – New Zealand’s Te Awamutu, Shogun returning to defend the title they won for the first time last year and Worcester Storm, renamed Breadalbane Storm after their finance firm sponsors. Prioritising the Borders’ Kings of the 7s contenders and one of the two Edinburgh clubs on the competition’s leaderboard at the moment marks a change of tune from recent years. Last year, for example, Melrose were the only Borderers given a bye to round two, along with seven invitational teams including a South of Scotland Barbarians side overseen by Scott Wight, co-head coach at the Greenyards club. Hawick, Kelso, Selkirk, Peebles, Jed-Forest, Gala were among 14 clubs contesting round one, with three saying first-round goodbyes and only Selkirk, Gala and Jed making it through to round two and the Souters the sole survivors come the quarter-finals. It was much the same story at 2023’s sevens, with Melrose the only Borderers to be given a first-round bye and going on to the last eight, with Hawick, Selkirk, Gala and Peebles going out in round one and Kelso and Jed following suit in round two. 2025’s first round, starting at 11am, will pit London Scottish against Edinburgh Accies with a second-round tie against Melrose at stake, Currie against the army for the right to play Peebles, Stewart’s Melville versus Edinburgh’s academy with Watsonians awaiting the winner and Stirling against Worcester en route to a second-round tie against Hawick for one of them. The other four are Shogun taking on Heriot’s, Boroughmuir playing Monaco, Te Aawamutu going up against Hawks and Ayr facing Glasgow Academicals with round-two ties versus Selkirk, Kelso, Gala and Jed following for the winners. This year’s final will kick off at 7.45pm. The full draw can be seen on Melrose Sevens’ Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/melrose7s This year’s Greenyards sevens have been put back in the calendar from their traditional second-Saturday-in-April slot, the 12th this year, by a month and a half to avoid clashing with that day’s Arnold Clark Premiership fixture card, currently consisting only of a trip to Marr for Currie but available as a date for rescheduling in the event of any postponements in the interim. Melrose’s sevens will be the last of the Kings of the 7’s ten rounds this season, rather than the third, as has been the case previously. The Greenyards club themselves are currently at the top of the leaderboard, on 13 points from two rounds, with Jed-Forest, Gala and Edinburgh Accies joint second on ten and Hawick, Peebles and Kelso joint fifth on eight. Hawick Sevens on Saturday, April 19, will now be the competition’s first round of this year and third all together. Announcing this year’s draw for Melrose Sevens’ main event and a women’s trophy being contested by six sides, tournament director Phil Morris said: “Melrose Sevens have always been a key event in the Scottish rugby calendar and we’re excited to reveal the draws for both competitions. “Moving the tournament to the May bank holiday allows for better participation and ensures we can continue delivering top-quality rugby in Melrose. “We’re looking forward to a fantastic weekend of sevens and welcoming teams and fans to the Greenyards for what we hope will be a true celebration of the end of the Scottish rugby domestic season.” Entry to the Saturday’s senior sevens, the centrepiece of a four-day event, is £37 upwards for adults. For details, go to https://melrose7s.co.uk/tickets