London Scottish captain Rory Bartle is looking forward to heading back to his roots when his side take on Cardiff Blues Premiership Select in the British and Irish Cup this weekend.

The Scots, who have won three of their last four matches,  travel to Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday for the first round of the 2016/17 B&I Cup. Bartle is excited to get underway in a new competition after the opening six rounds of the Greene King IPA Championship. 

The Welshman, who represented his country at Under 20 level, said: “We’re in good form at the moment and are all hoping to starting the B&I on a successful foot. We have plenty of strength in depth in the squad which means that we will head to Cardiff with a strong side looking to start well.”

On a personal note, the 20-year-old is looking forward to facing familiar opposition from the Welsh capital. “There will be plenty of faces that I know in the Cardiff team and it will be great to test myself against them. The Arms Park is a fantastic venue so I can’t wait to get there and try to secure the victory.”

The Scots have been improving week-on-week after a difficult start to the campaign, and the captain is pleased with the recent upturn in results. 

“It has been a really tough six weeks to start the season and everyone has worked very hard. We’ve always backed ourselves and it’s great to see the results improving.”

Stay tuned to the London Scottish Twitter @LSFCOfficial tomorrow for team news and match previews ahead of the British and Irish Cup opener on Saturday.