Edinburgh v Scarlets: Teams

Scotland co-captain Mike Blair is one of four internationals to return to the Edinburgh line-up for the clash with Scarlets on Friday.

Lions scrum-half Blair comes straight back in to skipper the side, with fellow Scotland stars Nick De Luca, Alan MacDonald and Phil Godman also handed starts.

Ross Ford, Allan Jacobsen and Jim Hamilton are also available, however the trio have been named on the bench.

Coach Rob Moffat has also recalled full-back Jim Thompson and centre Ben Cairns, while Tim Visser starts on the wing after coming off the bench to score a five-minute hat-trick against the Ospreys.

The Scarlets have put their faith in their youth players after opting to leave Stephen Jones and Sean Lamont out of their squad.

Although coach Nigel Davies has his international contingent available, he has opted against rushing them all back in.

As a result Jones and Lamont have both been rested, while Wales hooker Matthew Rees starts on the bench.

Centre Jon Davies and hooker Ken Owens both start the clash, though, with Martin Roberts returning at scrum-half.

Davies said: "Unless you've played at that level, it is difficult to appreciate fully the level of pressure and intensity that international players come under, mentally as much as physically.

"We have an important run of games now and it is important that both Stephen and Sean have a week completely away from rugby - it will be in their best interests and ours in the medium term with the amount of games we have coming up, that they freshen up before the challenges ahead."

Scarlets have been rocked by news Mark Jones, Morgan Stoddart and Simon Easterby have been ruled out for the season.

Edinburgh: 15 Jim Thompson, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (captain), 8 Roddy Grant, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Steve Turnbull, 4 Scott MacLeod, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Andrew Kelly, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Jim Hamilton, 19 Scott Newlands, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 David Blair, 22 John Houston.

Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Lee Williams, 13 Regan King, 12 Jonathan Davies 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Martin Roberts, 1 Iestyn Thomas, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Rhys Thomas, 4 Damian Welch, 5 Dominic Day, 6 Josh Turnbull, 7 Richie Pugh 8 David Lyons (capt).
Replacements: 16 Deacon Manu, 17 Matthew Rees, 18 Lou Reed 19 Rob McCusker, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Daniel Newton, 22 Gareth Maule