Saturday's Hawick Sevens has been abandoned, becoming the latest casualty of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK.
The tournament was to have had 24 teams lining up including the invitation Samurai squad, among them the New Zealand sevens expert Owen Scrimgeour, London Scottish and an all-Fijian seven under the banner of the Royal Scots.
Last week Melrose went ahead with their sevens event, a decision described by the farmer and former Scotland flanker John Jeffrey, as "bonkers".
But after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease at nearby Priesthaugh, Hawick president, Rob Bell, said: "This was the first case close to Hawick. As soon as we learned of the outbreak, our sevens convenor Doug Jackson contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food centre in Galashiels.
"The ministry officials didn't force the decision but recommended that, in the interest of the farming community, we should cancel the sevens."
The loss of the tournament, which will not be re-scheduled this year, is a major financial blow for the newly-crowned Scottish club champions.
Bell told the Daily Telegraph: "The sevens tournament is usually a big money earner for us, as it is for all the clubs in the Borders.
"I would reckon that we would have had made between £15,000 and £20,000. As it is we will now have to pay out for cancelled flights and for other events we had arranged for the tournament."