Matawalu in as Glasgow bid to slay the Dragons

Glasgow will unleash Niko Matawalu on the Dragons today following the Fiji scrum-half’s return from the World Cup.

Matawalu will start in Wales while Oli Kebble returns from a head knock and flanker Adam Ashe makes his first appearance of the season.

Glenn Bryce has also been recalled at full-back.

Head coach Dave Rennie, who has been heavily linked with the Australia role, said: “Niko has been bouncing out of his skin to play since he came back. He brings a lot of energy and we’re looking forward to seeing him back out there.

“Glenn is also back in – he’s looking really sharp with the ball in hand and we want to make sure he’s in the game a lot.

“It’s good to have Adam back in too – we’d planned to start him against the Scarlets, but he suffered a concussion in the build-up.

“We’re well aware of the challenge ahead at Rodney Parade. They’re a handful, a tough pack with genuine game breakers out wide.”

Meanwhile Fijian winger Eroni Sau will make his Edinburgh debut against Scarlets while Scotland fullback Blair Kinghorn will start following his World Cup return.

Sau is named in the starting line-up having had to wait for a visa following his summer move from Perpignan.

Centre Matt Scott and lock Fraser McKenzie also return from injury to start at BT Murrayfield.

Scotland stars Magnus Bradbury and Henry Pyrgos are named among the replacements for the encounter following their returns from Japan.

Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill said: “Scarlets are a good side, they’ve got good players and they’ve had as many missing as ourselves.

“They’re unbeaten, they’ve got a new coach who has a very expansive way of playing.

“They’re pretty much like ourselves – they’re pretty functional, they look to get the ball wide, very hard off the line in defence – we’ve had a couple of games already where teams do that.

“We know what’s coming. We need to bounce back from a pretty average performance in parts at Leinster. It should be a great contest and we’re really looking forward to getting back in front of our home support at Murrayfield.”