The Monaco Impi’s beat The Samurai to win the Melrose Sevens Rugby tournament, one of the oldest sevens competitions in the world, in Scotland over the weekend.

The Monegasque team, consisting of players from the Principality of Monaco, Scotland, England and France, pulled off a huge shock by beating strong favourites The Samurai on Saturday 8th April. The 26-12 win sees the team lift their first trophy.

No one seemed more surprised about the feat than Coach David Boglashvili: “We’ve only existed for six years. We didn’t reach a final anywhere… so it’s the first time in my life. It’s a great sevens experience. We are very happy, especially regarding the level of some of the other teams.”

The team itself was constructed only a week before the tournament, leaving Boglashvili with the unenviable task of molding a game plan consisting of players with whom he lacked familiarity, whilst also trying to create automatisms on the fly between players of numerous nationalities.

“The players come from different backgrounds, from all over the place, and yet they gelled together into a side. It’s a magic experience to do so much. I’m very proud of the way they have come together – more than even the result. It was difficult to create a game plan in such a short time, but somehow we seemed to manage and earned ourselves a super result,” said Boglashvili.

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Photo by Rob Gray