Scottish's Heeks is ready for the top (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Scottish's Heeks is ready for the top

3:00pm Friday 7th October 2011 in London Scottish By Stuart Amos

London Scottish scrum-half Matt Heeks reckons a year away from the Exiles means he is now better prepared for an assault on the Premiership.

The 23-year-old number nine has played all five of the Exiles’ Championship clashes thus far this season having been forced to play second fiddle to head coach Simon Amor two seasons ago.

Heeks returned to the Athletic Ground in the summer having had a successful stint at Barking last term, which saw his then employers pipped to the National Division One title by Scottish.

The former Harlequins and Saracens trainee, who has struck up a good partnership with fly half Dan Mugfiord, subsequently secured promotion via the back door with his switch to west London.

And with a large contingent of last year’s Barking pack now on board at Scottish – and his scrum-half rival having now turned mentor – he believes he is enjoying life again.

“I had to get away from Scottish just to get some game time because I wasn’t getting any behind Simon,” he said.

“I needed more rugby to continue to develop and my year at Barking was great.

“It was a bit of an armchair ride at times. Scottish got the best of the Barking pack this summer and it has gone well.

“My ambition is to play at the highest level. I’d love to do that with Scottish and with Simon and James[Brown] here it is a great opportunity to learn.”

Mugford and number eight Mark Bright both bagged braces as Scottish secured their second win of the season – and first try bonus point – with a 37-21 home win against Moseley.

Heeks will get a taste of what life in the top flight might be like with the arrival of former Premiership side Leeds – who are struggling to come to terms with the Championship thus far – at the Athletic Ground on Saturday.

And the scrum-half admits it is the sort of game everyone is looking forward to.

“These are the big games everyone wants to be involved in, but every game is a big game for us this year. There are no easy teams in the Championship,” he added.

“Saturday was important for us because we had lost three on the bounce and had to get back to winning ways.”