SOUTH Africa are poised to supplant New Zealand as the IRB World Sevens Series champions at Murrayfield this weekend, but the recent upstarts of England yesterday spoke of how they would like to see the Scottish event moved away from the national stadium.
Ben Ryan, the England coach, is a former sevens player with Cambridge University and England, and has experienced both the Melrose Sevens and the World Sevens Series. There was huge controversy when a bid to make Scotland a venue for the IRB World
Sevens Series changed its location late on from the Greenyards, birthplace of sevens, to Murrayfield.
The SRU believed the national stadium had far more scope to grow the event and generate greater income as well as fulfil the requirements of the professional teams taking part. The IRB agreed a five-year deal with the SRU to have Murrayfield as the final tournament and this weekend marks the third tournament to be staged in the Scottish capital, with attendances growing year on year.
However, fresh from their victory over New Zealand in their own Twickenham final – their second triumph of the series – the England coach and his captain Ollie Phillips surprisingly re-opened the debate.
Ryan said: "I captained the Cambridge University side, which also included my current assistant Russell Earnshaw, who lost to Bryan Redpath's Melrose in the 1997 final. I have great memories of sevens in Scotland. I have played around the world in Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Hong Kong, but Melrose was the stand-out memory for me, with all the history at that place.
"The whole thing there is fabulous and when you're coming back to Scotland I personally would love the final IRB World Series event to be at Melrose. That's where it all started; it would be great for the cameras and I'm sure the players would soak up the history and atmosphere of it.
"In modern rugby you look at the top stadia and all sorts of stuff, when actually playing at Melrose would make the Scottish event a unique part of the calendar. We play in a baseball stadium and a Test match cricket oval, and I think Melrose would add to the nature of it.
"Murrayfield is a great stadium and we'll see what happens this weekend. If we get a full stadium then I'd maybe change my opinions, but it is not great with just 15,000 each day."
Twickenham has changed opinions, he conceded. The RFU had similar problems in generating an atmosphere at their sevens event over the past decade, but last weekend more than 65,000 supporters trooped in over the two days in a landmark event that witnessed a first home win.
"Yes, it was so vibrant," Ryan said. "We have finally turned the corner in having a decent London Sevens. It has taken ten years, but the RFU have sorted it out and I think it will hit 50,000 each day next year.
"But unless Edinburgh can turn it around like that and come closer to filling Murrayfield, I still think the SRU have to move it to Melrose. I know it would be smaller and Melrose might not accommodate more than 15,000 each day, but that makes it a demand ticket. George in South Africa do it well with an 18,000 full house, with temporary stands. We could all stay in Edinburgh and be bussed down to the Greenyards.
"Forget about all the potential problems there; they are all surmountable. Just get us into Melrose."
Phillips, the England captain, added: "I've played the Borders sevens circuit with Newcastle, at Hawick, Langholm, Jed-Forest and won at Melrose, and I'm with Ben. I would love to see the IRB event at Melrose at the end of the season.
"I've played in the 'Kings of the Sevens' series down there and you could have their finale around the IRB series finale; it would be a good way of getting everyone into the Borders for a great rugby weekend."
However, there is no switch intended by the SRU. They still have another two years at Murrayfield and, as they develop the rugby carnival around the event, remain hopeful that the Scottish tournament will grow like its English counterpart.
South Africa open the tournament at 9.35am tomorrow, but England and Scotland get underway just after noon, which promises to launch the 2009 finale with a bang. If both sides progress as they did last weekend and the Scots take one step further the old enemies would meet for the first time in the final. That has the potential to attract an audience in Edinburgh.
