Over the course of our rich history, we have been blessed with many pieces of luck and sitting amongst those most treasured is a chance meeting with Vittorio Musso in Shanghai Airport in the early days of the Six Nations. Vittorio was the president of Biella Rugby and harboured an ambition of bringing his team to Edinburgh. He would swiftly be put in touch with John Evans, Vincent O’Donoghue and David Parker and a visit to Raeburn Place was arranged.

With the seeds of a long friendship planted, the Club would travel to Biella, a small city in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, in 2004 with a tour party of varying playing and drinking abilities. No one had heard of Biella Rugby, but it quickly became apparent that this would be a trip to remember as we would receive a mayoral welcome and be piped down the main street of Biella! We would pass many cafe and bar windows and doors adorned with “Welcome Edinburgh Accies!” signs and receive complimentary drinks when entering.

NOTE: This article was originally posted our old website on 2nd May 2021, but was migrated to this website as part of go-live in May 2021.