Durham University claims £1,000 prize as inaugural winners of the Melrose Sevens GoFibre pre-qualification tournament

Durham University men’s sevens team have been crowned winners of the inaugural Melrose Sevens GoFibre Pre-Qualification Tournament.

As winners, Durham have earned themselves a place in the 2024 1883 Centenary Cup Tournament alongside a £1,000 prize courtesy of tournament sponsors GoFibre.

Continuing their recent streak of strong performances throughout the BUCS rugby competition in the XV-a-side game, Durham produced some scintillating rugby throughout the day before eventually coming out on top against Edinburgh University in the final.The Pre-Qualification Tournament is sponsored by Scottish independent broadband provider GoFibre as part of a three-year sponsorship of the iconic Melrose Sevens. The sponsorship is intended to support grassroots rugby and local communities throughout the Borders and Northern England, creating new opportunities for players and clubs to take part in the famous tournament on the hallowed Greenyards pitch.

Marking a successful first season of a three year sponsorship deal, the local broadband provider has also installed its transformative full fibre broadband to Melrose Rugby Club in an upgrade to the clubhouse’s facilities that will improve the club’s capacity to host events and help to future-proof it for the next generation of Melrose rugby.

The sponsorship comes as GoFibre continues to roll out its full fibre network across Scotland and Northern England, levelling-up the facilities and capabilities of local clubs, homes, and businesses in the area. In addition to connecting approximately 1,400 Melrose premises, in the coming months, full fibre broadband will also be available for more than 4,000 rural premises in Teesdale after GoFibre was awarded a £6.6m contract to upgrade broadband in hard-to-reach communities under the government’s Project Gigabit scheme. The project will cover towns, villages and hamlets across the region including premises across Barnard Castle, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Gainford and West Auckland, subject to further survey completion.

GoFibre is committed to tackling the digital divide across Scotland and the north of England. Once in place, the network offers speeds of up to 10Gbps, transforming the ability for Borders residents and businesses to work effectively, operate multiple devices simultaneously with no lag and download complete box sets and large files in seconds.

Neil Conaghan, Chief Executive Officer at GoFibre said: “Congratulations to Durham University for an excellent performance throughout the tournament and becoming much-deserved winners of our inaugural GoFibre competition. “When“When we partnered with Melrose Sevens, we did so to create new opportunities and experiences for players and communities, doing all that we can to improve lives and enable people and businesses to thrive alongside the roll out of our full fibre technology. “We’ve made a long-term commitment to supporting the Borders and Northern England to reach their full potential and we‘re already looking forward to next season working together with Melrose Rugby Club on such a fantastic competition”.

To find out how GoFibre is making a difference in local communities with its full fibre broadband services and to register interest, visit www.gofibre.co.uk