Scrum-half Matt Heeks has rejoined London Scottish after spending last season at Barking.

Heeks was part of the Scottish youth set up since the age of 18, and represented Scotland at  Under-18 level, the Under 19 World Cup in France in 2007, as well as Scotland Under 20s in the 2009/2010 Six Nations tournament. He moved to Barking for 2010/2011 in an attempt to gain regular first-team rugby: a decision that paid off as, until suffering a thumb injury at the end of the season, he became the first-choice number 9 in a Barking team that were narrowly pipped to the National 1 League title by Scottish.

Simon Amor is pleased by Heeks’ development: “Matt has progressed immensely following his spell at Barking – we will be getting a fantastic player that has greater experience and understanding in an absolutely vital position on the field, and we are delighted to have him back.”

Joining Heeks on the road from Barking to the Richmond Athletic Ground are a number of other former Barking players. Props Aaron Liffchak and Alex McKenzie, second-row Ben Thomas and back-row forwards James Kellard and Anthony Andrews have all made the short trip across London. Amor sees their arrival as a challenge to the current squad to up their game: “The arrivals will create a great competition for places, which has to be one of our main aims. By bringing quality players such as these guys in, it will strengthen our squad, and provide extra motivation for all of our players to keep performing. Great credit has to go to our new forwards coach, Alex Codling. Barking had the stand-out pack in National League 1 last season, and so the fact that these guys were so keen to continue working with Alex speaks volumes about his coaching ability.”