EXCITEMENT is building for Dunfermline Rugby Club as they make their final preparations for a return to the national leagues this weekend.

On Saturday, the McKane Park outfit's first XV travel to North Berwick for their opening match of the season in National League Division Four, earned courtesy of their Caledonia Region League Division One title success.

Head coach, Gavin Emerson, guided the team back out of the regional leagues for the first time since 2015, when they were relegated from National Division Three after one season, and he is confident his players can hold their own at a higher level.

"We're looking forward to it," he told Press Sport this week.

"We're a little bit unsure because we're playing North Berwick, who won their east league, so we've never seen each other before. We don't know what they're going to be like so, this week, like previous times, we're just focusing on us, how well we can play, can we implement stuff we've been covering during pre-season.

"Our last game was a good turnout, so we're hoping to just carry on from that. We're getting good numbers at training, and getting two strong sides out over the weekend. The second XV have got their final pre-season game at home to Perth, so they'll be focusing on fine tuning from their game last weekend. We had a weekend off, and we'll just see how we can go from there.

"North Berwick are brand new up. They'll be as excited but maybe as nervous as we are as to what that rugby's going to look like, so we'll see how we go."

Emerson has been pleased with Dunfermline's pre-season preparations, which began at the beginning of July, and believes that they can take confidence and momentum from last season's campaign.

"It's been really good," he said of their build-up.

"Comparing it to last pre-season, we've built on that. Numbers have been fantastic; we've had a good influx of new players, we've had a good influx of under-18s coming up - eight have come up - and they're playing as well, which is really good. It shows that the process is working to provide young people opportunities to play senior rugby when they get of age, so it's been fantastic.

"Nothing's really changed. We're focusing on a couple of different bits and bobs. Last season, we focused on putting a game plan in, this season, we've focused on being fitter than the opposition.

"It's been good fun. We've not had the summer we had last pre-season, so we've had to try and provide guys with short, sharp sessions to stop them focusing on getting wet, would you believe, in the summer.

"We've been really grateful we've been able to come here (to McKane Park) for pre-season. Last year we were at Pitreavie, where there wasn't enough space, but the club closed the pitches early and got the work done, which has allowed us to get on the pitch and let new members see the club they're going to be playing for."

Emerson added: "Apart from the cup run, we were undefeated away from home last season.

"It was a fantastic season, building confidence and getting into it, but we can't just settle and believe that we're going to win every game we play in the league, no matter who we play. We need to continually be wanting to develop.

"No matter where we are, it's about how we build up in the warm-up. If we get over there, plenty of time, ease into it and lift the tempo just before we kick off, it shouldn't matter where we are.

"North Berwick, from what I believe, it's a pretty nice pitch, so it should be good, running rugby. We've got Wandies (Murrayfield Wanderers) the week after here, which will be our first home game, so we'll see how we fare."

Saturday's match at Recreation Park kicks off at 3pm.