SURPRISE was the general feeling around the Greenyards at the end of an exhilarating Tilney Melrose Sevens on Saturday, but, in hindsight, perhaps Boroughmuir’s success should have been predicted.
The team promised much this season with their creative rugby, with pace and flair in abundance, but failed to grasp either the league or cup due, largely, to the extra power of Hawick and Glasgow Hawks. But, let loose on a sevens field, where power plays second fiddle to speed and skill, Muir proved they had no equal at the weekend.
Even without Charlie Keenan, who had been invited to play for the Barbarians, Graeme Kiddie, who was featuring for the Scottish Thistles, and the injured Chris Capaldi - all likely starters, at least before Saturday - Iain Paxton’s side did it the hard way, having been drawn into the first (preliminary) round of four ties to emerge champions with an incredibly dominant 38-5 victory over Roy Laidlaw’s NIG Scottish Thistles in the final.
In truth, however, even the Muir players were somewhat stunned to be receiving the adulation of the crowd, estimated at around 13,000, after winning the famous title for only the third year in their history. And following Bruce Hay’s class of 1976 and the 1963 champions, Boroughmuir’s triumph maintains the club’s record of never having lost a Greenyards final.
In revealing the team had only had their first sevens run on Thursday, Muir skipper David Cunningham confirmed that the general approach in recent seasons to 15-man rugby has developed players well suited to sevens.
"It is a surprise to win, because although we knew we had a good team we hadn’t thought about it until this week. We came here aiming to beat Kirkcaldy in the first round and then see how well we could do against Jed, which we knew would be tough. To go on and win it is pretty special, and it gives us something to celebrate after a season of hard work from all the players."
Individual talent remains a vital component of the abbreviated game, and Boroughmuir scrum-half Mike Blair has those attributes in abundance and finished the event as top try-scorer with nine, while also creating a host more for his team-mates. Blair is unsure whether this was his final appearance in a club jersey, as his new side, Edinburgh, have called him into their squad for next week.
He admitted: "If it is my last appearance then it is certainly a great way to go out. I didn’t look on it like that beforehand, as an opportunity to go out on a high, but it’s maybe turned out that way. It’s the first time I’ve played at the Melrose Sevens, but I knew I would enjoy it.
"We said in the dressing room there that we had to not get het-up about being in the final because we’d been having a laugh and a joke all day. We had to look forward to it and we did, and we enjoyed the final."
That approach, allied to a steely determination borne of a XVs season in which they have come close, but not close enough, was reflected in the manner in which they conjured up tries from behind their own line, and hung in for probably the most important score of the day, an injury-time try from Ally Warnock which clinched a 17-14 win, and comeback from 14-0 down, against Jed-Forest.
While the talented Thistles proved deserved finalists, Peebles were perhaps the other surprise of the tournament. The Division 1 newcomers finished in the top four with tremendous displays in beating Gala 17-14, Hawick 21-12 and a particularly strong Glasgow Hawks 34-31.
In an exciting tournament, there were a host of pulsating jousts within the overall battle. The KelsovUS Cougars tie in the second round was a cracker, and, had the draw been different, these two sides could easily have lit up the latter stages.
The tie ended in a 21-17 win for the Borderers, but the loss during it of key men in Graeme Aitchison and Steve Ross, left them too light to match the Thistles in the quarter-finals.
The Barbarians made a bold bid to retain the crown won by Shaun Longstaff’s team last season. With Welsh fly-half Arwel Thomas, Wasps scrum-half Alex Page and Scots Darren Burns and Keenan among the stars, the team produced some terrific rugby to beat Selkirk and Melrose. It needed a Page golden try in extra-time to finally kill off a Melrose side in which wing Bruce Ruthven - who finished second to Blair in the try stakes with six and won the Tilney Try of the Tournament award - was a particular stand-out.
Thistles manager Roy Laidlaw admitted afterwards: "Scottish rugby is the winner with events like these. We had a great turn-out of club teams, as well as guest sides, and the quality of the players made sure it was very competitive right from the start.
"The more tournaments we have like this the better Scottish players will become, both in sevens and XV-a-sides."
Final scorers: Boroughmuir: Tries: Blair (2), Warnock, Brown, Cunningham, Clapperton. Cons: Warnock (4). NIG Scottish Thistles: Try: Eadie. Con: Welch.
Boroughmuir: O Brown, D Cunningham, J Reilly, M Blair, A Warnock, M Clapperton, R Couper. Subs: K Brown for Reilly 3mins, M Morrell for Couper 16.
NIG Scottish Thistles: G Flockhart, C Eadie, A Wilson, S Welch, G Kiddie, C Joiner, S Lamont. Subs: S Low for Joiner 7mins, Z Bruce for Flockhart, D Adamson for Lamont both 14.
Referee: J Steele (Dumfries).