Perthshire Rugby Club return to competitive action for the first time in 18 long months this weekend.
The Eagles, who have a number of new faces within their ranks, are all set for their Tennent’s National League Division 3 curtain-raiser.
A trip through to the capital to face Murrayfield Wanderers kick-starts the campaign on Saturday afternoon.
Shire, who will be captained by Mat Rae this term, last played a league match in March 2020 - against Strathmore - before the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt on rugby activity.
“It has been a long time - a long and difficult time,” said head coach Alan Clark. "It’s good to be playing again and that is the important thing.
“We have a huge number of new faces and I was really pleased with how the guys integrated into the squad.
“People moving into the area have been looking for ways to meet others and sport has really helped with that.
“Since the last time we played, we probably have 12 or 13 new players. Even this season we have pulled in five or six. That has been a positive for us.”
Clark admits it is difficult to get a gauge on what kind of a challenge Murrayfield - and indeed others in the league - will present.
“It’s almost impossible to know what any team is going to be like after 18 months away,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to getting down there. With Murrayfield, you never have any idea who you will be playing against. They can be brilliant or less so. You never know.
“The expectation is that Berwick will still be reasonably strong as they were building momentum the last time we saw them.
“And you expect Lasswade to be really strong. They were relegated into our league by a whisker. Other than that, it could be anything.
“But it’s very nice to have Strathmore and Howe of Fife in the league. That gives us a couple local fixtures, which is always great.
“I’m really pleased with the squad I’ve got. I’m really positive about who we have in and the quality of players. My expectations are certainly top half of the table and then we’ll see where we go from there.”
Shire warmed-up for Saturday by playing a three-way triangular tournament of 40 minute games last weekend. Clark’s men defeated Panmure 24-7 but then lost out to Harris FP 15-5.
“Although you do contact stuff at training, it’s difficult to work out how it will transfer into the heat of battle,” Clark said. "But excitement levels on Saturday morning when we were coming to play the friendlies were pretty high.
“And I was really pleased with the way we played in both the games. I thought there was some good stuff. We’re going into the weekend pretty confident actually.”
