Conference B leaders Edinburgh give a first home start to scrum-half Charlie Shiel as they host Cardiff Blues in the Pro14.

Centres James Johnstone and George Taylor, prop Jamie Bhatti and lock Grant Gilchrist are the other changes from their win over Connacht.

Blues have full-back Hallam Amos and lock Seb Davies back from the Wales camp.

They make five changes as they try to stay in touch with the play-offs.

Aled Summerhill returns on the wing and once-capped Rory Thornton at lock, while the Welsh side field a completely new front row from the win over Benetton in Brad Thyer, Kristian Dacey and Dmitri Arhip.

Edinburgh have forwards Simon Berghan, Nick Haining and Luke Crosbie released from the Scotland squad along with Bhatti, Gilchrist and replacement scrum-half Henry Pyrgos.

"We need to make sure we're on it," said Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill.

"We should be well motivated since we're on a good run, but we need to make sure we get all the basic things right.

"The weather will be a little bit better than the last two weeks, but we need to be really functional and practical in how we play. We just need to go and win the game - do whatever it takes to win.

"I'm not fussy about our style. Substance, physicality and mentality should be 10 out of 10 for us and we should go out with confidence to make sure we get our performance right."

Cardiff Blues head coach John Mulvihill said: "We're fully aware of the challenges ahead against Edinburgh. They're top of our table and have a lot of quality throughout, even with some big names missing through the Six Nations.

"They're top of the table because of the depth they've built in that squad.

"We've got good form on the road this year, and that was something we spoke about before the season started. We need to pick up points on the road, and we've won up in Edinburgh before so we can take confidence from that."

Edinburgh: Hoyland; Sau, Johnstone, Taylor, van der Merwe; Hickey, Shiel: Bhatti, Willemse, Berghan, Carmichael, Gilchrist (c), Haining, Crosbie, Mata.

Replacements: Fenton, Schoeman, Ceccarelli, Thomson, Barcaly, Pyrgos, van der Walt, Dean.

Cardiff Blues: Amos; Harries, Smith, Thomas, Summerhill; Tovey, L Williams (capt): Thyer, Dacey, Arhip, S Davies, Thornton, Lewis-Hughes, Robinson, Turnbull.

Replacements: Myhill, Domachowski, Assiratti, Murphy, Boyde, L Jones, Llewellyn, Fish.

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)

Assistant Referees: Ian Kenny (SRU) Mark Patton (IRFU)

TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU).