Invitational outfit Auld Stars considering comeback after reunion victory at rugby’s Earlston Sevens

Auld Stars’ formation – by reuniting Scottish internationals of years gone by including Melrose’s Scott Wight and Mark Robertson – for this year’s Earlston Sevens on Sunday, May 5, was billed as a one-off, but they’re considering giving it another go now they’ve got a trophy to defend, having won all four of their games that day, including edging out Melrose by 31-28 in the final.

Questions have been asked about a return to the Haugh in 2025 but they’re unsure whether they’d take up an invitation if one is forthcoming in due course.

If they do get back together, it’s unlikely to be before next year, though, and chances are there’d be a line-up change in the interim, reckons Wight, currently attack coach for Fosroc Super Series outfit Southern Knights.

The 38-year-old says he’s over the moon about having got back on the ball with Robertson and Selkirk’s Lee Jones, former Border Reivers flanker Roddy Grant, ex-Knights winger Nyle Godsmark and past Melrose fly-half Alex Blair, plus Tom Brown, James Johnstone, James Fleming and Joe Nayacavou, but he’s not sure he’d be up to doing it again after adding another candle to his next birthday cake in November.

“It was brilliant,” he said. “You just can’t replicate that in so many ways, the camaraderie between that group of boys.

“Even though I’m still coaching, it’s not the same as the buzz you get from playing.

“We weren’t too sure how it was going to work in terms of are boys going to perform, are their bodies going to break down, is somebody going to pick up an injury, but the buzz at being back out there with a group of boys that’d played together for so many years at sevens and stuff was brilliant.”

The team’s success at Earlston – beating their hosts 47-0 in round one, Edinburgh Academical 22-1 in the quarter-finals and Gala 24-19 in the last four prior to securing silverware against Melrose – had come as a pleasant surprise, said Wight, as he hadn’t known what to expect from Scottish short-sided rugby’s answer to Hollywood’s Expendables.

“There were a lot of people in the background saying how are that squad going to get beat but you’ve also got to be realistic,” he told us.

“It’s seven years this month since I retired from playing rugby.

“Yes, I still take rugby training and chuck a ball about but I wasn’t sure how I’d adapt to contact again, and then having got through one game, there was a worry about running out of steam if we got to the latter stages of the tournament, especially as the time for recovery between games lessens as the day goes on.

“You start with a game at 2pm against Earlston, then you’re on at 3.42pm – and that’s fine as it’s almost an hour and three-quarters – but then all of a sudden, you’re on in 40 minutes’ time and then, after that, you’re on in two games’ time.

“The performances that Accies, Gala and Melrose put in against us spurred us on to perform a bit better, though.

“Those three games were really quite physical and they all gave us what for but the old boys fronted up and had some bloody good fun.

“There was alway that worry that we’d embarrass ourselves because it might not be like it was seven years ago, you never know, so I was really glad that it went well and nobody picked up any serious injuries and everybody got through the day.”

Fun though it might have been, Wight is worried that a second helping might be too much of a good thing – but he’s not ruling it out.

“I’m not so convinced that would be a good idea but you’re never going to say never,” he said.

“That was kind of spur of the moment and it was a local tournament and the boys really bought into it.

“It was really good to get out there one more time just to see what it would be like.

“Do we go again? We were asked on the Sunday night if we’d like to come back and defend the trophy now we’d won it, but what that would look like I don’t know.

“I’d never say never but a few of the other boys might potentially decline the chance to take part again.

“Would I put an older team together and go back to Earlston Sevens as Auld Stars, there’s every possibility if we get invited back but I’m not so sure I could play.

“Some of the younger boys might still potentially be interested in taking part but the likes of Roddy Grant, Mark Robertson and myself who’ve been retired for seven or eight years would be more likely to say no.

“Would it be the same without the same squad? I don’t know. It’s too far away to say.”

Among those impressed by Auld Stars’ comeback was Wight’s fellow Knights coach Iain Chisholm, also head coach of their opponents in the final.

“Some of those guys haven’t played for a long time but they’ve still got it and they did it for a living so you were never going to count them out,” he said.

See also …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/borders-rugby-stars-of-yesteryear-forming-auld-alliance-to-compete-at-earlston-sevens-4611406

and …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/in-pics-old-boys-stop-melrose-doing-double-at-sevens-4619114