Matt first picked up a rugby ball at his local club Ayr RFC after attending an open session at just six years old and was hooked on the sport ever since, remaining at the club throughout his youth rugby journey.

“I always loved rugby growing up for as long as I can remember, so I just wanted to start playing as soon as I could. Both my mum and dad’s sides of the family are really into their rugby so it’s always just kind of been in my life.”

As his journey into senior rugby began to ramp up Matt got the call to join the Scotland U20 squad and was named in the 2019 U20 Six Nations and World Rugby U20’s Trophy squads. Most notably Davidson played full-back in the U20 team’s only win of the Six Nations campaign against Wales that year with a 27-20 victory.

Following a year’s stint down at London Scottish Davidson moved back up to Scotland, returning to his home club and was named in the Ayrshire Bulls squad for the then FOSROC Super6 for its inaugural year in 2019.
It was whilst training with the Bulls that Matt decided to dip his toes in the water of the Sevens circuit.

“I had always seen it on the TV and enjoyed watching it, so I texted Robbie Ferguson who was the captain at the time, who I’m good friends with, to say ‘do you mind if I come in for training and see if I’m any good?’ and just started playing and really enjoyed it.”

Matt’s Sevens dreams came to fruition after making the team and making his Commonwealth Games debut at Birmingham 2022, where Team Scotland took sixth place.

“I really loved my time on the Sevens circuit, getting to travel and be involved in not just the Commonwealth Games but the Rugby World Cup Sevens as well, it’s something I didn’t really think I would get to be involved in so that was really special.”

Returning after his Sevens contract ended, Matt headed to the Capital and joined the Edinburgh Super Series side Heriot’s Rugby in both their 2023 FOSROC Super Series Sprint and Championship squads.

Matt during a 2023 FOSROC Super Series Championship match against Watsonians at Myreside. Image Credit: Graham Gaw

“Since joining Heriot’s I’ve changed position, at Bulls I played most of my time at full-back but at Heriot’s now I’m playing outside-centre – I’ve enjoyed playing the different position, I feel like I get more touches on the ball and more opportunities to score.”

“We’ve been playing some really good rugby and getting good results; I think we’ll have enough to finish near the top of the table and hopefully get to the Championship Final from there.”

Since stepping out in blue for Heriot’s, Matt has made quite the impression, starting in eight out of nine of their FOSROC Super Series Championship rounds so far. He currently holds the record for the most tries in the team with eight to his name which, including his hat-trick performance against Watsonians in Round 6.

“That’s definitely been my standout moment so far of the Championship, getting a hat-trick of tries and beating the current Champions at their home ground was pretty special.”

After some impressive performances with the Goldenacre outfit, Davidson got the call up to the bench for Edinburgh Rugby in their pre-season friendly match against Connacht at Hive Stadium on Friday 29 September. Coming off the bench at half time, unfortunately the team lost 19 – 45 to the visitors but Davidson has nothing but positives to take from the experience.

“It was pretty cool to be able to go in and train with the squad, I wasn’t expecting to get any game time after only training with them for a couple of weeks so getting the call up was really cool.

“That had been my goal for quite a while now, after finishing up with the Sevens team last September I did a bit of training with Edinburgh, so I was keen to get back into that space again. I got an injury that set me back a bit, so coming into the Sprint with Heriot’s and then once the Championship started that was my goal.”

Reflecting on his rugby journey to date, Matt is keen to continue to prove himself and hopefully step back into the Sevens circuit again in the future.

“I think the main goal for me is to try and keep myself involved with Edinburgh Rugby for as long as possible and if something happens then great.

“I think I would also like to get involved with GB Sevens if I can, I did a couple of tournaments with them towards the end of last year, but unfortunately didn’t get a full-time contract so I would love to try and get back involved with them again and go from there.”