The visitors lost out to city rivals Edinburgh Accies 21-14 after the referee blew for full time after just five minutes of the second half, despite playing seven minutes in the first.

However, Aitchison was full of praise for the new-look Gala tournament and revealed he was looking forward to testing himself against his former club in the RBS Premiership next season.

The former Galashiels Academy pupil said: “It’s always good to come back to the Sevens and it’s a great format which means people are keen to be here.

“We’re pretty young for Sevens so that’s been a good run out for us to guarantee three games and we got a fourth so hopefully that sets us up for next week, we’ve got Dundee in the first round at Melrose which the boys are looking forward to.” And he added: “I’m looking forward to coming back to places like Netherdale and Mansfield Park. It’s a great league and it’s pretty close and for us it’s going to be a challenge to see how we can compete against some of these big lads.”