The Murrayfield team will face the Tigers at the Greenyards on Saturday, August 23.

And the following Friday they will return to the region to play Newcastle - a venue and kick off time have still to be confirmed.

The initial fixture, which will coincide with a number of community-focused club and school activities in the area, is the first game on the new season ticket memberships that were also launched this week.

The match will see Edinburgh face the Englishmen for the first time since 2008, when hooker Ross Ford and former stand-off Phil Godman combined to help the team produce a 17-12 Heineken Cup win.

The Greenyards contest is expected to be just as fierce as the Tigers team boasts a number of familiar faces from the international arena, including 2013 British & Irish Lions Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Tom Croft.

Edinburgh Rugby managing director, David Davies, said: “The purpose of taking this friendly out of the city is to support one of our local rugby communities and help to promote Edinburgh Rugby in Borders, however we also have a responsibility to those who come to support us week-in week-out at Murrayfield from elsewhere.

“Hopefully they’ll be able to take advantage of our free transport offer and join us and the Border rugby community, as we get ready to kick-off the new competitive campaign.” Clubs from across the Borders were invited to tender for the pre-season glamour fixture.

Mr Davies added: “I’d like to thank all the Border clubs involved in the tender process for this match for their hospitality and enthusiasm.

“The opportunity to meet the volunteers who run the game at a grassroots level has been an enlightening and energising experience and one which has reinforced our reasoning for taking this fixture outside of the city.” Tickets for the Edinburgh Rugby v Leicester Tigers match are priced at £10 (adults) and £5 (senior citizens, students and under-18s) and can be purchased online (www.edinburghrugby.org), on the phone (0131 346 5180) and in person, at the BT Murrayfield ticket centre and at Melrose RFC, in advance and on the night.

Further details of the Newcastle match will be made available in the coming weeks.