Cardiff Blues have made two changes for their Guinness PRO14 encounter with Glasgow Warriors on Saturday night (7.35pm).
Following last weekend’s defeat to Leinster, Wales’ Capital Region return to Cardiff Arms Park, targeting their first competitive win of the season.
They have been boosted by the return to fitness of number eight Nick Williams, while centre Willis Halaholo also starts at centre.
The Blues face an in-form Glasgow team but following a memorable win in last season’s fixture, and an improved performance against Leinster, head coach Danny Wilson has urged his side to take the next step.
He said: “We want to perform at home no matter what game you are coming off. The important thing for us is to build on the 67 minutes we played against Leinster, which was a much improved performance.
“We played poorly against Edinburgh, and got what we deserved, but for 67 minutes we were a lot better in the hardest away fixture of the season.
“There was an improvement from Edinburgh to Leinster and I need to see an improvement again. We beat Glasgow at home last season and we will be looking to beat them at home again”
The Blues are also boosted by the timely return to fitness of George Earle, who lines up on the bench.
Several first team players remain on the sidelines but Wilson is relieved to have the second-row back in action as the injury list begins to ease.
He added: “We have a tough set of fixtures at the start of the season and that’s coincided with the nine first team injuries. They are starting to return or are getting close to a return.
“You have to take the rough with the smooth and get on with it. You have injury periods but that gives opportunity to other players and to young, developing Welsh players.”
Cardiff Blues: Rhun Williams; Alex Cuthbert, Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Tom James; Steve Shingler, Lloyd Williams; Rhys Gill; Matthew Rees (capt), Keiron Assiratti, Seb Davies, Damian Welch, Josh Turnbull, Josh Navidi, Nick Williams.
Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Brad Thyer, Dillon Lewis , George Earle, Macauley Cook, Tomos Williams, Jarrod Evans, Matthew Morgan.
The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury:
Taufa’ao Filise – knee
Gethin Jenkins - knee
Anton Peikrishvili - lower back
Kristian Dacey - groin
Ethan Lewis - hamstring
Ellis Jenkins - hamstring
Jim Botham - ankle
Gareth Anscombe - groin
Blaine Scully - elbow
Cam Lewis – hamstring
Sam Warburton - neck