14 Hanno Dirksen

13 Tom Isaacs

12 Andrew Bishop

11 Eli Walker

10 Dan Biggar

9 Kahn Fotuali'i

1 Duncan Jones

2 Richard Hibbard

3 Joe Rees

4 Ian Gough

5 James King

6 Tom Smith (Capt)

7 Sam Lewis

8 Jonathan Thomas

Replacements:

16 Scott Baldwin

17 Ryan Bevington

18 Will Taylor

19 Alun Wyn Jones

20 Joe Bearman

21 Rhys Webb

22 Matthew Morgan

23 Sonny Parker

Sam Lewis makes his PRO12 debut

Joe Rees makes his first PRO12 start

Will Taylor will make his PRO12 debut if he comes off the bench

The following players were not considered because of injury:

Cai Griffiths - Arm

Aaron Jarvis - Rib

Richard Kelly - Wrist

Ben John - Groin

Gareth Owen - ACL

Nikki Walker - ACL

There are 19 players absent on international duty with Wales, Ireland, Wales U20, Wales Sevens and Scotland U20.

Forwards Coach, Jonathan Humphreys, commented:

"Edinburgh is always a tough place to go, they are a good team who like to play attacking rugby and it's never easy against them. Our record up there in recent years speaks for itself so we know we have to improve hugely on how we've performed up there in the last few seasons. It's about being focused, preparing properly, paying attention to detail, knowing our roles and being clinical. If we get those aspects right then things should fall into place.

"We targeted a home semi-final in this competition and with nine games to go we're in second place, so we are up there, with our destiny in our hands. It's an exciting challenge for these boys know. These were the ones who had such a great start to the season with six from six, and it's this group that can control where we finish with a run of four games now while the Six Nations are on.

"We've seen in recent weeks with the LV= Cup that there is a bright future for the region, with some great talent coming through the ranks, and for boys like Eli, Hanno, Joe, Sam and James in the starting line-up, with Will and Matthew on the bench, this is a great opportunity for them to make names for themselves as Ospreys.

"Friday night will be a tough test for them, then we come back home to the Liberty next weekend for the first time in the league since the win over the Blues on New Year's Day, and with the game not on TV we'd like to think that people will want to come on and support local homegrown players from Ospreylia representing their region."

Forthcoming fixtures

Fri 17 Feb - Ospreys v Aironi - Liberty Stadium - RaboDirect PRO12 - 7.30pm

Fri 24 Feb - Ulster v Ospreys - Ravenhill - RaboDirect PRO12 - 7.05pm

Fri 2 Mar - Ospreys v Glasgow - Liberty Stadium - RaboDirect PRO12 - 7.05pm

Fri 23 Mar - Leinster v Ospreys - RDS Showground - RaboDirect PRO12 - 7.05pm

Sat 31 Mar - Ospreys v Benetton Treviso - Liberty Stadium - RaboDirect PRO12 - 6.30pm