Simon Taylor and Southwell preparing for Murrayfield returns

SIMON Taylor is this afternoon primed to make his return to rugby on the Murrayfield pitch where he made his name after spending most of the season injured.

The 30-year-old back row has endured a tough time at Stade Francais this season and missed the entire Heineken Cup. He made his first appearance of the season off the bench against Perpignan in late October, having struggled with a foot injury, and started away to Clermont Auvergne the next week, only to suffer a serious bicep injury just 13 minutes into the game.

That has left him with just 40 minutes of action in the whole season, one in which, ironically, he asked not to be considered for international duty primarily to allow his body to recover from previous injuries and enjoy a good run of rugby at the Parisian club.

The No8, who has 66 caps and has been one of Scotland's brightest back rows in recent times, has been named on the bench for today's Heineken Cup clash with his old club Edinburgh and is expected to be given a run in the second half.

Hugo Southwell will undoubtedly be at the heart of the action from the start, however, as he faces what is also his former club in the unusual position of scrum-half.

The 29-year-old missed the start of the season like Taylor, with injury, but he has played a major role in the Heineken Cup campaign and the team's return to form in the Top 14.

He stepped into the No9 jersey last week for the first time since his schooldays and helped Stade to a 15-13 win over Bath in Paris.

The French club are missing Julie Dupuy to suspension and Noel Oelschig and Charlie Davies to injury, while youngster Benjamin Tardy is not registered for the Heineken Cup.

They had looked to field hooker Mathieu Blin at scrum-half, but he succumbed to an injury last week and Southwell was pressed into action.

He fared pretty well for a first run-out in more than 15 years, and it merely adds to an intriguing season of musical chairs for the Scotland internationalist.

He took on the role of stand-off for Scotland 'A' against Tonga in November due to the shortage of players in that position that national coach Andy Robinson deemed ready or who fitted his style of play and has also played centre for Scotland, having earned his first of 48 caps on the wing.

He still prefers the full-back berth but, back in Edinburgh yesterday, he told The Scotsman that he was eagerly looking forward to running out at Murrayfield for the first time in the No9 jersey. "It is a bit of a last resort," he said, "and I am definitely stopping here – there will be no moves into the pack.

"We also have a bit of a kicking crisis at the club and they wanted Lionel Beauxis to be at full-back, so when they wanted a volunteer to play scrum-half I thought why not? I am happy to help the team wherever I can and it is a bit of a natural progression I guess from 15 to 14, to 13, 12, 10 …

"But this will definitely be the last time I feature at scrum-half, and I won't be pushing for that position for Scotland.

"I did speak with Gregor (Townsend] and Andy (Robinson] about it, and it's not going to affect anything in terms of my position there (the national squad] – I am a full-back and that's where I will be pushing for a place in the Six Nations.

"But this is a big game and I'm looking forward to playing my part in it. From a team's perspective, people have talked about us just needing a draw to win the pool, but we want to win well and give ourselves a chance of a home draw in the quarter-final.

"Personally, it's great to be back in Edinburgh and I'd like to think this might be the first of a few appearances at Murrayfield this year."