Impressive performances for the Maroons, including a Scottish Cup final win over Ayr two years ago, alerted Edinburgh to his rising potential and last summer the professional outfit signed him on an elite development player (EDP) contract.

When not required for Edinburgh last season, prop Ewan McQuillin was turning out for Gala.

But, this weekend, the 22-year-old, who spent time in New Zealand in the summer on the John Macphail Scholarship, is set to turn out against them for their Borders rivals Melrose.

When asked how he would feel turning out against his former club, McQuillin told the Border Telegraph: “It will be tough because I spent a lot of my earlier career there.

“Gala are a good side, pushing up to the top of the table, but I’ll just focus on my own game.

“It will be another incredibly physical encounter but there will be a big crowd and we’ll see what happens.” Gala Head Coach George Graham previously admitted he was “disappointed” to lose McQuillin to Melrose.

But there will be no love lost when the two sides meet at the Greenyards on Saturday.

McQuillin, who was influential in his side’s win over Heriot’s last weekend where they put driving mauls normally associated with Gala to good use, said: “There are a lot of positives to take from the game against Heriot’s, just at the end let us down but full credit to the boys it was big improvement from the last few games.

“We did well up front but we have to learn to finish games and keep going until the 80th minute.

“Fair play to Heriot’s they stuck in right to the end and were throwing everything at us. But, it’s done now, we just need to move on and get the ball rolling with the next couple of weeks.”