While Gala got the better of Melrose in the Waverley Cup match in December, it was Melrose who pipped Gala to the post in the race for the RBS Premiership.

However, many of the players, and indeed the coaches, remain best of friends.

And that sportsmanship was exemplified at the Gala Sevens on Saturday when Gala lent Melrose two players - Euan Dods and Gregor Young - for their final victory over Watsonians after they lost Graeme Dodds and Damien Hoyland to injury.

Even if it wasn’t extended to much of the Maroons support, some of whom didn’t hang around after the Greenyards side knocked them out of their home competition at the semi-final stage.

“Graeme pulled his calf in the semi-final against us so I was just stepping in for him,” Dods said, sporting a Melrose top. “You never know when we’ll need help over the Sevens circuit so we have to help out the other teams.” But he joked: “It’s a one off and something I never want to do again.” Needless to say, Dods and and Young, originally from Jed, didn’t hang around for the team photographs after the match.

However, while Gala failed to repeat the heroics of last year’s Sevens success, the club pointed out there was still plenty to look forward to.

Dods said: “We’ve got another nine tournaments to look forward to, hopefully this is just the beginning. It’s a totally new squad, there were only two of us from last season who played in this Sevens who were actually out there today.

“We’ll probably not play a better Seven on the circuit. A couple of bounces of the ball and we know we’re not too far away but there’s still a lot to work on.”