FRIDAY PREVIEW: Following a Round One rescheduled fixture between the Stormers and Bulls last weekend, the United Rugby Championship is back in full swing as things are heating up for play-off qualification.

There are two matches on Friday as the eighth placed Edinburgh will look to stay in the play-off hunt against a Zebre outfit that has proven that they can beat anyone on their day this season.

Argentine international Emiliano Boffelli returns from injury to make his first URC appearance of the season.

The Pumas star starts on the wing having successfully recovered from back surgery and is one of eight changes made to the side that faced Scarlets last month.

Fellow winger Ross McCann returns from a calf injury to start, while centre Mosese Tuipulotu and flyhalf Ross Thompson also join the starting backline.

Tighthead prop D’Arcy Rae , lock Marshall Sykes and flanker Luke Crosbie have been released from Scotland camp to start, while Tom Currie, who debuted at Parc y Scarlets last time out, makes his first professional start at No.8.

Ahead of the clash, head coach Sean Everitt said: “We’re delighted to welcome Emiliano [Boffelli] back to the team.

“He has worked incredibly had to return to full fitness and I know proud he is to be pulling on the Edinburgh jersey once again.

“It’s great to be back at Edinburgh Stadium, playing under the Friday night lights.

“Zebre are a team we have a huge amount of respect for and we know they’ll be travelling with confidence after winning in Belfast last time out.

“However we’re really excited about the team we’ve got out tomorrow night and we’ll be going hell for leather to get a win for our home support.”

In the other clash, the unbeaten Leinster travel to Wales as they look to keep their streak in tact against the 12th placed Ospreys.

Ospreys head coach Mark Jones gave Leinster a lot of praise for their depth and quality but also urged his team to focus more on themselves and their own performance.

“The quality of the Leinster team never changes, it’s the names on the team sheet that change,” Jones said.

“The next guy in in theory is as good as the first guy.

“He’s just got a slightly different skillset, or his strengths and weaknesses lay in a different area.

“That’s the challenge when we play the best teams, they’ve got great depth.

“They’ve got a good competitive culture.

“You know with a few injuries they don’t generally drop that many levels.

“Look, we’ve got 18 guys unavailable ourselves and have done for quite a while with the internationals and injuries.

“We’re pretty proud of the way we played over the last six weeks.

“Our challenge is to keep repeating and improving on what we’ve done in the last game.

“That will be our challenge on Friday night.

“It’s not playing the Leinster team, actually we’ve got to reach our level otherwise it doesn’t matter who you play, you’ll be in for a tough night.

“We’ve given Leinster the respect they deserve around their game.

“We’ve looked at them in detail, but certainly the latter part of the week we’ve delved really deep into ourselves and what we need to produce on Friday night, not overemphasing our thoughts on Leinster.”

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provided a positive update regarding injuries his side are currently dealing with and shared the way he plans on integrating these players back into the side.

“We’ve got a few [players] that are coming back into training, but nothing more to add around the selection front.

Added: “[Against] Glasgow [Warriors] there might be an opportunity for some players to come back into contention.

“To be honest, we’re trying to get the team to be difficult to get into at the moment.

“Whilst we want to bring players back and give them an opportunity, we also want to reward the players for their performances.

“We will give [an] opportunity if we feel that it’s the right thing to do.

“We want them to force their way back into the team.

“As the guy selecting the team, I want you to hold your hand up and say ‘pick me’ and have some evidence to show it.

“Competition breeds a great environment.”

Leinster have won 25 out of their 27 URC matches against Welsh opposition and scored five tries in each of their last seven matches.

Edinburgh v Zebre Parma
(Edinburgh Stadium, Edinburgh – Kick-off: 19.35; 19.35 GMT; 20.35 Italy time)

Prediction

@rugby365com: Edinburgh by 15 points

Teams

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Emiliano Bofelli, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Ross McCann, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Tom Currie, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Glen Young, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Paddy Harrison, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 James Lang.

Zebre: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Scott Gregory, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Bautista Stavile ,6 Luca Andreani, 5 Leonardo Krumov, 4 Matteo Canali, 3 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Paolo Buonfigilo.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 Guido Volpi, 20 Giacomo Ferrari, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Giovanni Montemauri, 23 Luca Morisi.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Ian Kenny (Scotland) & Chelsea Gillespie (Scotland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

Ospreys v Leinster
(Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea – Kick-off: 19.35; 19.35 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365com: Leinster by 20 points

Teams

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Harri Deaves, 5 James Fender, 4 James Ratti, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Garyn Phillips.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Cameron Jones, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Iestyn Hopkins.

Leinster: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Hugh Cooney, 12 Charlie Tector, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Ciaran Frawley, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 James Culhane, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Max Deegan, 5 Brian Deeny, 4 Diarmuid Mangan, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Jack Boyle.
Replacements: 16 John McKee, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Rory McGuire, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Alex Soroka, 21 Fintan Gunne, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Andrew Osborne.

Referee: Filipo Russo (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales) & Adam Jones (Wales)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)