Warriors boosted as five Scotland players return

PRO14: Marfo back for Edinburgh as Murrayfield men aim for five straight wins

Glasgow welcome back five Scotland players into their side as they prepare to take on Zebre tonight.

Nick Grigg and Tim Swinson go straight from the Scotland side that beat Italy on the final day of the NatWest 6 Nations at the weekend into the Warriors lineup for the Guinness PRO14 clash.

Zander Fagerson, who was on the bench in Rome, also returns to the front row, while Pete Horne and Jamie Bhatti are named among the substitutes.

Callum Gribbins will lead the side from the back row in what will be his first appearance since December, while George Turner also returns to the side following injury. DTH van der Merwe makes his first start since rejoining the Warriors last week, making it his first appearance for the club since scoring in the Grand Final win over Munster in 2015.

George Horne drops to the bench ahead of his upcoming duties with the Scotland Sevens team in the Commonwealth Games, which means Adam Hastings and Henry Pyrgos form the half-back partnership for Dave Rennie’s side.

Lee Jones, who was also involved throughout the Six Nations, Ruaridh Jackson and Matt Fagerson are all set to start but will join Horne in flying out to Hong Kong next week to join the Sevens squad.

Rennie’s side are 11 points clear in Conference A but have not played since late February following poor weather.

The head coach said “We had a handful of guys due to return from injury against Ulster, Cully (Callum Gibbins) being one of them so he’s keen as.

“He’ll lead the side this week and we’ll be relying on his calm demeanour and for him to lead by example. Zebre have got some very dangerous personnel so we’ll be have to be at our best.”

Meanwhile Darryl Marfo makes his long-awaited return from injury as Edinburgh head to Galway to face Connacht tonight.

The prop suffered a back injury in November that forced him to miss the entirety of the Six Nations but is named in a strong side by head coach Richard Cockerill to travel to Ireland.

Blair Kinghorn returns at full-back following his impressive introduction to international rugby in recent weeks in the only change in the back line from an impressive 12-6 win over Munster last week.

Nathan Fowles is back at scrum-half for the side that will be captained by Grant Gilchrist.

Edinburgh have notched up four successive wins, which has propelled them to third in Conference B of the Guinness PRO14.

Cockerill said: “We’re taking steps in the right direction.”