Two PRO14 games take place on Friday with Edinburgh hosting the Scarlets at Murrayfield while the Ospreys and Glasgow Warriors do battle in Swansea.
Edinburgh v Scarlets
Scotland internationalists Tom Brown and Murray McCallum return to Edinburgh’s starting XV as head coach Richard Cockerill makes just three changes to his team.
The capped duo are selected in the starting line-up alongside Scotland Sevens squad member, Ally Miller, who makes his Edinburgh debut at openside flanker.
In the back-three, Brown – who makes his first home appearance of the season – is joined on the opposite flank by Duhan van der Merwe, as Dougie Fife keeps his place at full-back.
An unchanged centre pairing sees Chris Dean partnered by James Johnstone in midfield after setting up his side’s only try in last weekend’s PRO14 encounter against Zebre.
Edinburgh’s top points scorer, Simon Hickey (64 points in all competitions), is named at fly-half alongside Henry Pyrgos, who once again captains the side.
In the front-row, experienced hooker Ross Ford packs down alongside Pierre Schoeman and McCallum, whilst an unchanged second-row combination sees Jamie Hodgson and Callum Hunter-Hill both make the first home appearance of their careers.
The inclusion of debutant Miller is the only alteration to an otherwise unchanged back-row as Luke Hamilton and Fijian international Bill Mata keep their place in starting XV.
Elsewhere, former Scotland U20 back-row, Lewis Wynne – who in July joined London Scottish from Glasgow Warriors on season-long loan – is named amongst the replacements and if involved will make his debut for the capital side.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old homegrown talent Will Boyde will lead the Scarlets for the first time as centre Steff Hughes, who captained Scarlets in last week’s victory, is forced to sit out the eighth round clash after suffering an ankle injury in training on Wednesday.
In positive news head coach Wayne Pivac welcomes the return of centre Kieron Fonotia, from suspension, and back-row Blade Thomson, who missed last week’s clash in South Africa following the birth of his second child.
Boyde and Thomson line up at number eight and six respectively with Josh Macleod lining up beside them on the openside flank. Steve Cummins and David Bulbring continue as second-row pairing with Ryan Elias making a return from Wales camp to partner props Phil Price and Werner Kruger in the front-row.
In the backline, New Zealander Johnny McNicholl moves to full-back with Morgan Williams coming in on the wing alongside him and one of last week’s try scorers Ioan Nicholas.
Fonotia returns to the centre alongside Australian Paul Asquith with Dan Jones and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne continuing their halfback partnership.
The teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Tom Brown, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Bill Mata, 7 Ally Miller, 6 Luke Hamilton, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 Murray McCallum, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 David Cherry, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Callum Atkinson, 20 Lewis Wynne, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Jason Baggott, 23 Juan Pablo Socino
Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Ioan Nicholas, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Morgan Williams, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 Will Boyde (c), 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Steve Cummins, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Phil Price
Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Dylan Evans, 18 Simon Gardiner, 19 Tom Price, 20 Ed Kennedy, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Clayton Blommetjies, 23 Uzair Cassiem
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White (Scotland), David Sutherland (Scotland)
TMO: Neil Patterson (Scotland)
Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors
Ospreys will be looking to back up last week’s win over Connacht when they host a Glasgow side licking its wounds after a defeat to Munster.
Gareth Thomas will make his 50th Ospreys appearance if he comes off the bench while Sam Parry is in line for his 100th Championship appearance (PRO12/14) if he comes on.
Tom Habberfield and Sam Davies are their half-backs while Olly Cracknell captains the side alongside Will Jones and Rob McCusker in the back-row.
Meanwhile, USA international Tevita Tameilau will make his first start for Glasgow Warriors on Friday.
The number eight will pack down at the Liberty Stadium with Adam Ashe and captain Callum Gibbins either side of him.
Rob Harley and George Turner have both been released by Scotland this weekend. The hooker is flanked by Oli Kebble and D’Arcy Rae in the front-row, while Scott Cummings is Harley’s partner in the engine room.
Nick Frisby and Brandon Thomson start at nine and ten for the first time since orchestrating Glasgow’s 50-17 pre-season victory over Harlequins in Perth.
Stafford McDowall impressed off the bench against Munster and makes his first start for the club with Nick Grigg outside of him.
DTH van der Merwe was a late absentee against Munster but returns to the starting XV on one wing with Rory Hughes starting on the other with Ruaridh Jackson at full-back.
On the bench Kiran McDonald returns from injury to be involved for the first time his season.
Bruce Flockhart is in line to make his full Glasgow Warriors debut and Paddy Kelly will also get his first taste of rugby in a Warriors shirt this season.
Sam Johnson suffered a knee injury in Glasgow’s defeat to Munster last weekend and is expected to be out for 10-12 weeks.
The teams:
Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Cory Allen, 12 Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield, 8 Rob McCusker, 7 Will Jones, 6 Olly Cracknell (c), 5 James King, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 3 Ma’afu Fia, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Rhodri Jones
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Tom Botha, 19 James Ratti, 20 Guido Volpi, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 James Hook, 23 Tom Williams
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Rory Hughes, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Adam Ashe, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Rob Harley, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 George Turner, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Matt Smith, 21 Bruce Flockhart, 22 Paddy Kelly, 23 Niko Matawalu
Venue: Liberty Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Kieran Barry (Ireland), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)