Ex-Edinburgh Rugby man swells growing Scottish contingent in France as he signs for new club

The scrum-half left Edinburgh at the end of last season after nine years with the capital club. He has been helping out at Edinburgh Accies, doing some coaching and also playing for the Premiership side, but was keen to continue his career at pro level. He has done that by signing for Biarritz.

The famous Basque club currently play in Pro D2, the second tier of French rugby where they have made an impressive start to the season, winning four of their first five matches to sit fourth in the table. They are away to Aurillac on Friday.

Shiel joins the growing colony of Scots in France

Shiel, 28, joins the growing colony of Scots playing in French rugby. Adam Hastings, Huw Jones, Hamish Watson, Ben Healy and Johnny Matthews all moved across the Channel in the summer, joining Montpellier, Toulon, Castres, La Rochelle and Montauban, respectively. Shiel’s former Edinburgh team-mates Blair Kinghorn, Dave Cherry and Ali Price were already playing in France.

In a recent interview with The Scotsman, Shiel said he was looking forward to moving to a new environment.

“To be honest, I'm looking forward to whatever's next because you start to get in the same cycle each year,” he said. “For me, it would be great to have a new place to test yourself and probably try and reach the levels that I've not quite managed to do at Edinburgh.

“It feels like I've still got a lot to give. It's just trying to find out where to put it, pretty much.”