Musselburgh crowned champions at returning Haddington sevens

The Honest Toun side came into the competition on the back of success at the North Berwick event last weekend.

And they continued their impressive form ahead of their own sevens tournament when they defeated the side which looks to give players in Scotland opportunities to play summer rugby.

Bill Swan, who was at the heart of organising the competition in Haddington’s Neilson Park, felt that the day had gone well.

Host club Haddington (red) took on Hearts and Balls MB in the semi-finals of the competition at Neilson Park

He said: “We had an exceptionally successful day on Saturday.

“It really went better than we could have imagined considering it has been five years since our last sevens tournament – this was our first post-Covid sevens.

“We had a few call-offs during the week, which caused a bit of angst, but we got 10 teams out on the park in three pools and had some really good, competitive rugby.

“We had a really big crowd, as big a crowd as I have seen.”

The teams were split into three pools, with Haddington and Dunbar topping their groups.

In the other group, it came down to points scored as Musselburgh and Hearts + Balls Mighty Bovs emerged for the semi-finals.

Musselburgh (blue) and Dunbar faced each other in the semi-finals of the Haddington sevens tournament

Musselburgh saw off Dunbar in sudden death extra time while Hearts + Balls Mighty Bovs overcame the home side.

In the end, Musselburgh took the title and Mr Swan felt it was “thoroughly deserved”.

He added: “We could not have hoped for it to go any better. The weather was pretty kind to us and that was a big factor.

“We had a small shower but, by the time we got to the end of the pool stages, the weather was absolutely glorious.”