Edinburgh’s Mark Robertson eyes cup glory as he travels from Malta for matches

MARK Robertson is certainly putting in the miles as he looks to help Edinburgh Eagles rewrite the record books.

For the winger jets in from where he works in Malta for matches.

Mark Robertson will attempt to pull off a Challenge Cup shock with Edinburgh Eagles – after flying in from where he works in Malta

Today sees the Scottish side attempt to reach the third round of the Challenge Cup after making round two for the first time since 2010.

But should they stun amateur giants Castleford Lock Lane, Robertson will have no time to celebrate. He has to make work on Monday morning in Gzira, some 1,600 miles away!

“I couldn’t get time off yesterday, so I flew home at 9.30pm last night,” said the 28-year-old business account manager for Northern Gas and Power.

“I’ll travel down from Edinburgh this morning then I’m flying out from Manchester tomorrow to get back to work in Malta on Monday.

“It’s a bit of a tough weekend, pretty rough, and it can be pretty tiring at times. My union team in Malta trains on Tuesday and Thursday and I go to the gym most mornings before work.

“I fly over and play games on Saturday and I spoke to our captain before the first round and said I want to be a part of it.

“I miss the training side of it but it’s about trying to keep up with the rest. It’s well worth it, especially after the first round win.

“It was the same after then too. I didn’t get chance to celebrate that!”

Robertson’s talents have received international recognition with two caps for Malta, who he qualifies for through his grandmother, to go with the one he has for the Mediterranean island in rugby union.

But if it was not for social media, he may never have been anywhere near the 13-a-side game.

Scotland-born Robertson has two league caps for Malta – and one in union

He added: “I’d played union all my life and was at the West of Scotland team in Glasgow but started playing league three or four years ago there, before ending up at Edinburgh Eagles.

“It was actually through Facebook I found it. I saw it advertised and it was the union off-season. I was coming back from a calf injury and needed some extra fitness over the summer.

“I went to train and really enjoyed it. It’s a different pace compared to union and a lot of the good stuff in that game, you get more of it in league.

“Before I played it, I’d only ever really seen it on TV and physically, I find it much harder work as a player.”

Edinburgh head to Lock Lane on the back of a momentous 28-22 first round win at Cumbrians Lowca – again, Robertson had no chance to celebrate.

Robertson travels down to West Yorkshire from Edinburgh todayJAX MACKENZIE PHOTOGRAPHY

But it is a small step on the path of making a nation full of rugby legends produce league talent. Hull KR’s Sam Luckley and Warrington’s Matty Russell are the only Scotland-born players in Super League.

And making the sport bigger north of the border is huge on Robertson’s agenda as he told SunSport: “The sport’s not big in Scotland at all and this is an occasion for it. Players from other clubs have even been chipping in at training to add that bit of competition.

“There’s no pressure on us, we were underdogs in the first round too, but this is a chance to show there is talent in Scotland.

“The league scene’s getting bigger and the federation is trying to bring back the Scotland A team, as well as get more of a platform for the club game.”