East Kilbride Rugby Club boss Franklin Clark has urged his side to write themselves into history by winning the National Shield on Saturday. The Torrance Park side tackle high-flying West League 1 rivals Lenzie at the Hive Stadium, in the shadow of Murrayfield, with several busloads of supporters heading through to Edinburgh. Itc omes two years after the club lost out to Stewartry in the 2023 final. Clark said: “It’s a massive opportunity for the guys in the team to become part of East Kilbride Rugby Club folklore for winning a trophy, and that doesn’t really come around very often for rugby players. “It would mean a lot to the club, I always feel like I’m just a cog in the machine, the important people are the players, the volunteers and committee in the background who work away as unsung heroes. “I just make sure the players are in the right place, and they’re as good as they can be. “There are still quite a few players who were here the last time we got to the Shield final two years ago [losing to Stewartry], so they’re keen to win it this time. “It might be quite good that some of them have been there before and know what it feels like, and it’s not going to spook them. “It’s not just about taking part, it’s about coming back with the Shield on the day.” Clark added: “There are quite a few supporters’ buses going, so it’s quite a good day for the whole club “There are a lot of the young kids from the academy going, so it’s good for us to try and win the shield and encourage these kids to progress their careers and try to emulate what the seniors are doing .” East Kilbride warmed up for the final with a 50-46 win in a rollercoaster clash at Annan, that propelled them up to sixth in the West League 1 table. Clark said: “The end result was good, but it was a bizarre game – we were actually 43-20 up with about 20 minutes to go, and they got 46-43 in front with about two minutes left, and we managed to score a try and a conversion right at the death to win it, so it was a bit of an interesting game, to say the least. “But it’s a good result, it was the result we wanted. The team keep surprising me with the will to win they’ve got. “We’re in a good position, we want to finish in the top four, and if we win our last two games, that’s where we’ll finish. “We’re still targeting that, but this is a big week for us and we’ve switched off from the league.”