Edinburgh v Leinster: Teams
Mike Blair will make his first start of the season when Edinburgh play European champions Leinster on Saturday.
Last Updated: 04/10/09 6:28pm
Scotland scrum-half Mike Blair will make his first start of the season when his Edinburgh side play European champions Leinster at Murrayfield on Friday.
After being a part of the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in the summer, Blair has been restricted to two appearances as a replacement.
But now coach Rob Moffat has decided to put the 28-year-old back in the starting line-up as well as handing him the captaincy again as Greg Laidlaw drops to the bench.
There are two further changes in the Edinburgh line-up with Nick De Luca replacing John Houston at centre and flanker Alan MacDonald restored after Scott Newlands was ruled out with a virus.
Moffat admitted that he was excited by the prospect of testing himself against the Heineken Cup winners.
"It's an exciting prospect. In the past we've had some really, really good games against Leinster, (the) Heineken Cup games last year were like that," he told the club's official website.
"But obviously Magners League is what we're playing in just now and we want to do as well as we can.
Perfect Record
"(We've got) three wins out of three and we certainly don't want to lose that record on Saturday."
The former Scotland A coach also claims his side are feeling no extra pressure as a result of sitting at the top of the Magners League table.
"No, it's fantastic, not at all, it's a great position to be in. The teams will respect us (but) I think they'll do that anyway," Moffat added.
"But the challenge for us is to try and keep that consistency and keep it going."
Meanwhile, Leinster have called upon Lions trio Jamie Heaslip, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald as the visitors aim to hand the fast starters their first defeat of the season.
Kearney will start at full-back in a back three that also features Shane Horgan and Fitzgerald, with Fergus McFadden playing alongside Gordon D'Arcy at centre.
In the pack, skipper Leo Cullen forms a second-row partnership with Nathan Hines and Heaslip plays in a strong back three alongside Academy graduates Sean O'Brien and Kevin McLaughlin.
Cian Healy continues in the front row alongside John Fogarty and Stan Wright.
Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Scott MacLeod, 4 Craig Hamilton, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Kyle Traynor
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Alan Jacobsen, 18 Ryan Grant, 19 Steve Turnbull, 20 Scott Newlands, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 John Houston.
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Shaun Berne, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 Stan Wright, 2 John Fogarty, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements (from): Bernard Jackman, Mike Ross, Devin Toner, Shane Jennings, Dominic Ryan, Simon Keogh, Jonathan Sexton, Girvan Dempsey.