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SCMP Reporter

In 1993 the Scottish Rugby Union wished to present the International Rugby Board with a perpetual trophy to be first played for at the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens at Murrayfield.

The committee struck upon the idea of producing an enlarged replica of the original trophy which would form the ideal link between the first sevens tournament, played in Melrose, Scotland, and the modern game. The Melrose Cup was born.

Vital statistics

Appointed jeweller: Hamilton & Inches

Metal: Nine-carat gold

Height: 25 centimetres

Weight: 790 grams

Background

It would make the inventor of rugby sevens, Ned Haig, bounce in his grave if he knew the game which he devised purely as a short-term fundraiser would become an international sport - with a quadrennial World Cup to boot.

Haig, born in 1858 in Jedburgh, came up with the idea of a seven-a-side rugby tournament in 1883 to save the Melrose Football Club, of which he was a playing member, from bankruptcy.

On 28 April of that year, the world?s first seven-a-side rugby tournament was held in Melrose - the place for which the trophy cup was named. Such was the success of the event, it became an annual event and the game of sevens rugby was born.

It wasn't until 1976 that the sevens game went truly global and it happened in the unlikely setting of Hong Kong.

In 1975, a tobacco company executive by the name of Ian Gow had the idea to sponsor an international rugby tournament in the British colony. In true colonial fashion, Gow discussed the idea over pre-lunch drinks with Tokkie Smith, the chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union. The next time the pair met it was Smith who proposed a sevens tournament, believing it would make a better spectacle.

The Hong Kong sevens was born, and it was the success of this tournament, the launch pad for such greats of the game as Waisale Serevi and Jonah Lomu, that laid the foundation for the Rugby World Cup Sevens and the IRB Sevens circuit.



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UK Super Sevens Series: Hong Kong aiming even higher at London Irish

Rugby World Cup Sevens

MELROSE CUP