Edinburgh v Castres: Teams

Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson has opted to rest captain Mike Blair for the Heineken Cup clash with Castres.

With little chance of reaching the last eight, the Scottish side have decided to promote Greig Laidlaw to the No.9 shirt, with Blair named on the bench.

And having been handed a rare start, Laidlaw is determined to make the most of his opportunity.

"I'm delighted to be starting, especially in the Heineken Cup, which is the biggest club competition in the northern hemisphere," he said.

"Even if we can't realistically qualify for the knockout stages, we are going out there to win the game and finish as high up the pool as possible.

"It is a hard task to dislodge Mike from the team; there is no hiding from that fact. Mike is one of the top scrum-halves in the world at the minute.

"I am always striving to push my standards up so I can compete for the scrum-half position and to take my chance when it comes along."

Blair is joined on the bench by international team-mates Chris Paterson and Jim Hamilton.

Nick de Luca does return to the starting XV, though, along with Gavin Kerr, Ben Gissing and Scott Newlands.

Struggling Castres have also opted to rest a number of players for the trip to Murrayfield - including France skipper Lionel Nallet.

Sébastien Tillous-Borde, Anthony Lagardère and Luc Ducalcon also remain at home so New Zealander Kevin Senio, Romain Teulet and Italian Fabio Staibano all start.

Edinburgh: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Andrew Turnbull, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Simon Webster, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Allister Hogg (c), 7 Simon Cross, 6 Scott Newlands, 5 Ben Gissing, 4 Craig Hamilton, 3 Gavin Kerr, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jim Hamilton/Roland Reid, 19 Alan MacDonald/Steve Lawrie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 John Houston, 22 Chris Paterson.

Castres: 15 Thomas Bouquié, 14 Charles Sika, 13 Thomas Sanchou, 11 Matthieu Bourret, 10 Romian Teulet, 9 Kevin Senio, 8 Steve Malonga, 7 Joe Tekori, 6 Lei Tomiki, 5 Colin Gaston, 4 Rodrigo Capo Ortega (c), 3 Fabio Staibano, 2 Terrain, 1 Gideon Lensing.
Replacements: 16 Akvsenti Giorgadze, 17 Cral Hoeft, 18 Daniel Saayman, 19 Kirill Koulemine, 20 Chris Masoe, 21 Steve Kefu, 22 Paul Bonnefond.