Kellock returns to captain Warriors in 1872 Cup

The skipper will make his 147th appearance for the club in front of a capacity Scotstoun crowd tomorrow afternoon, with crucial GUINNESS PRO12 points up for grabs.

In the back-line Stuart Hogg returns from injury and replaces Peter Murchie at full-back and fit-again Alex Dunbar comes in for Richie Vernon at outside centre.

Peter Horne continues at inside centre, Duncan Weir replaces Finn Russell at stand-off and Henry Pyrgos starts ahead of Niko Matawalu at scrum-half.

Sean Lamont and DTH van der Merwe are once again named on either wing, with Lamont set to make his 100th PRO12 appearance on Saturday.

Ryan Grant and Pat MacArthur come in for Gordon Reid and Fraser Brown at loose-head and hooker respectively, while Euan Murray continues at tight-head.

In the second-row Kellock replaces Leone Nakarawa and Tim Swinson comes in for Jonny Gray.

Rob Harley once again moves to the openside, with Ryan Wilson coming in at blindside flanker and Josh Strauss continuing at Number 8.

Former Edinburgh players Dougie Hall and Alex Allan are named amongst the replacements, while Sean Maitland is also named on the bench, after recovering from injury.

All 6,945 tickets for this game have been sold and supporters are urged not to travel to the stadium unless they have a ticket.

Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: "It's encouraging that a number of our players have come back from injury and we have a bigger squad to select from this week.

"This is the game every player wants to play in and there has been a real edge to training.

"It was a really difficult team to select with the second half performance against Munster and the impact the bench made, in addition to a number of players coming back from injury. It's a case of rewarding those who are in form and finding the right combinations for this weekend's opponents.

"We have gone with the same wingers this week after Sean (Lamont) and DTH (van der Merwe) played well against Munster.

"Al (Kellock) has been working really hard and has been very consistent with his training. He has been heavily involved in preparing for this game and his participation in the 'A' fixture on Monday was of real benefit to him to prepare for this match.

"Both our second-rows played well last week, but it's a very competitive position, so it's great that Al and Tim (Swinson) get an opportunity tomorrow.

"We know we face an extremely tough test against an in-form Edinburgh side, but all the players are really looking forward to this derby match."

Team to play Edinburgh Rugby, GUINNESS PRO12, Scotstoun Stadium, Saturday 27 December (kick-off 2.40pm) - live on Sky Sports 1:

15. Stuart Hogg
14. Sean Lamont
13. Alex Dunbar
12. Peter Horne
11. DTH van der Merwe
10. Duncan Weir
9. Henry Pyrgos

1. Ryan Grant
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Euan Murray
4. Tim Swinson
5. Al Kellock (Captain)
6. Ryan Wilson
7. Rob Harley
8. Josh Strauss

Replacements

16. Dougie Hall
17. Alex Allan
18. Jon Welsh
19. Leone Nakarawa
20. Tyrone Holmes
21. Niko Matawalu
22. Richie Vernon
23. Sean Maitland

Not available due to injury: Adam Ashe (neck), Mark Bennett (leg), Kevin Bryce (shin), Rossouw de Klerk (foot), Chris Fusaro (ankle), Lee Jones (ankle), Murray McConnell (leg), Tom Ryder (neck) and Jerry Yanuyanutawa (head).