Freddie Clarke admitted that he is relieved to be playing again after an injury lay-off meant that he had to wait until Friday night for his first match of the season.

The ex-England students captain spoke of his relief to be back in action: “It felt great to be back playing on Friday, it's been very disappointing having to miss the start of the campaign.”

Clarke played the full 80 minutes on his return, but was left frustrated at the narrow defeat to Nottingham, with Dan Mugford's last minute drop-goal giving the visitors an 18-17 victory.

“It was a shame that we were on the wrong end of the result. We did very well to get back into the game after being behind at half-time but ultimately we left a few opportunities out there which proved costly.” Said the Flanker. 

Scottish travel to Castle Park this Saturday to face Doncaster Knights. The Scots recorded an impressive victory there last year, and Clarke wants a repeat performance this weekend.

“We are all determined to put it right in a winning performance against Doncaster. We can take inspiration from the win there last year and we all want to get back to winning ways.

He added: “Doncaster are third in the league at the moment so we know that it will be a very tough match but we have played some of our best rugby this season against the teams near the top of the table.”