Edinburgh v Toulon: One change as Jaco van der Walt handed starting slot

Richard Cockerill has made just one change to his Edinburgh side as they take on Toulon at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.

Jaco van der Walt is handed his third start of the season. Picture: SNS Group

Jaco van der Walt is given the nod at stand-off in place of Simon Hickey, who is included among the replacements.

There are two further changes to the bench as the three-times Heineken Champions Cup champions visit the Scottish capital for Edinburgh’s first home match in the tournament since January 2014.

Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy graduate Luke Crosbie is named alongside scrum-half Nathan Fowles.

Cockerill has urged the city to back his side as they take on the French cracks, saying: “A bumper crowd would definitely give us an edge. We’re bringing the three-times European Champions to BT Murrayfield.

“It is, to a point, new territory for us in recent history, so I’d love the supporters to come along and get behind their city and support us.

“We’re going to try our best. We’ve always said we’re a side that’s developing, but we’re learning our lessons quickly.

“As I’ve always said, we’re going to try and win every time we play. We didn’t last weekend, but we gave Montpellier one hell of a fright.

“The next step is to start picking off these big teams and we’re going to try and that against Toulon this Saturday.”

Cockerill has named an unchanged back-three, with Blair Kinghorn at fullback with wingers Dougie Fife and Darcy Graham.

Matt Scott, named in the Scotland squad for the 2018 Autumn Test series, starts in the midfield alongside James Johnstone with Henry Pyrgos in at scrum-half alongside van der Walt, who makes just his third start of the season.

Stuart McInally is joined by fellow Scotland squad members WP Nel, Allan Dell, Ben Toolis and Grant Gilchrist in the tight-five.

Bill Mata continues at Number 8 while Hamish Watson and Magnus Bradbury complete the back-row.

Edinburgh team to face RC Toulon at BT Murrayfield in the Heineken Champions Cup on Saturday 20 October, kick-off 3.15pm – live on BT Sport.

Starting XV: Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, James Johnstone, Matt Scott, Dougie Fife, Jaco van der Walt, Henry Pyrgos, Allan Dell, Stuart McInally, WP Nel, Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist, Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson, Bill Mata.

Replacements: Ross Ford, Rory Sutherland, Simon Berghan, Luke Crosbie, Jamie Ritchie, Nathan Fowles, Simon Hickey, Chris Dean.

Toulon: Hugo Bonneval, Josua Tuisova, Malakai Fekitoa, Mathieu Bastareaud, Julian Savea, Anthony Belleau, Anthony Meric, Florian Fresia, Anthony Etrillard, Sebastien Taofifenua, Juandre Kruger, Romain Taofifenua, Swan Rebbadj, Raphael Lakafia, Florent Vanverberghe.

Replacements: Bastien Soury, Xavier Chiocci, Emerick Setiano, Jacques Potgieter, Daniel Ikpefan, Francois Trinh-Duc, Eric Escande, Rudy Gahetau.