RETURNING STARS ARE BOOST FOR COCKERILL

RICHARD COCKERILL is confident that the four international players who have been returned to Edinburgh following the postponement of Scotland’s game in Paris can hit the ground running against Scarlets at Murrayfield today.

Despite having just one training session with the club ahead of the lunchtime clash, Darcy Graham, Jaco van der Walt, and Grant Gilchrist all start the match, while Dave Cherry is on the bench.

Having them back is a boost for Cockerill, whose team are battling for a top-three spot in their Pro14 Conference table which would qualify them for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.

He had also asked for one of his props — Simon Berghan or W P Nel — to be released by Gregor Townsend. But with Zander Fagerson suspended for Scotland’s next Six Nations match against Ireland, his request was refused.

‘We got a heads-up first that Jaco was going to come back,’ said Cockerill. ‘Gilchrist, Darcy and Cherry were going to travel with Scotland to France, so we had to rejig our team selection for the Scarlets game.

‘It’s good to have Grant back because second row is a position we’re light on at the moment, and it’s good to get Darcy back because he’s a world-class winger and he needs a bit of game time. I could have done with a tighthead, too, but it wasn’t to be.

‘I start by asking for everybody but it’s a numbers game, isn’t it? Clearly, the situation with Scotland is that tightheads are pretty thin on the ground with the suspension for Fagerson, so I understand you can’t really expose guys to injury at this point, although I suppose it depends on when Scotland next play.’ TV: LIVE on Premier Sports, 12 noon.