Leith kick off their BT East Division 2 season on Saturday with a first visit to Academy Park by Barnton RFC, who are playing out of Royal High School. Having split the playing squad in half over pre-season, producing some mixed results, but enabling the combination of more experienced with less experienced players, the game will be a first outing for our nominal 1st XV, and with the Barnton men bringing an experienced squad to Leith on the first step on what they hope will be a swift return to national league rugby, the game represents an excellent first competitive test for the Leithers, as we set our own sights towards the top end of the table.

All at Leith look forward to welcoming our visitors from the west of the city to Academy Park, and the clubs are no stranger to one another, as due to the historic association with the Abbey of Holyrood, Royal High School once played games at Jock's Lodge, where the RHS 'Preparatory Department' was based from the 1930s till relocation to Barnton in 1968. Back in the black and white days, this put the two clubs in competition for local talent. Leith had the last laugh many years later though - convincing our visitors to take Ryan Burgess off our hands! (Just kidding Ryan..)

Team news will be available here later in the week, and following a successful summer recruitment drive which has seen 22 new players join the club, and with one pre-season friendly remaining on Tuesday night for guys to put their hand up for Saturday, competition for places is very healthy going into the league kick off.

See you on Saturday.