Paddy Power have us at +16. I think this is generous.

Nigel Owens is the man in the middle for Friday night

Scarlets have some important guys out injured for the game, if we pick the right team and go there with the right attitude who know's what might happen. Edinburgh are muck yet stayed in the game for awhile (granted they never really looked like winning it) we unlike Edinburgh have some big game players who can make a difference in a game like this in O'Halloran,Aki,Marmion,Butler,Dillane,Buckley. Why not go for it we might even surprise a few, stranger things have happened. The biggest challenge is dealing with Beirne who is just a bastard to play against in all areas really, we need quick ball as much as possible in this fixture as these Welsh sides have a knack of hanging on in for long periods before getting in the jackle position and turning over.

If they can cut the errors out anything can happen. I would rest Mul until the Challenge Cup games

I get the feeling KK is a fan of Masterson. That said, might be worth looking at 6. Butler 7. Heenan 8. Muldoon maybe? Butler doesn't seem to be afraid of doing the dirty work of a blindside and if Heenan can hit any sort of form he's a quality openside, though some of his performances lately have been quite lacklustre. Breakdown needs to be sorted anyway.

Bealham has been a machine for absolutely braindead penalties since the season started. Maybe getting benched and bringing Carey in would be the root up the hole he requires to sort himself out.

For some unfathomable reason I'm vaguely optimistic about this(maybe not a win, but just a much better performance). I really hope they go out and leave it all on the pitch, regardless of the result.

Not sure what Carey brings that Bealham doesn't (thought he was quite good on Saturday). Likewise while Masterson's form is all over the place (he was excellent against Kings and Dragons, poor against Glasgow and Cardiff) McKeon didn't exactly set the place alight in his cameo last w/e, quite the opposite in fact. Would agree that if fit Ili and TOH should come in for Kelleher and Scholes.

www.connachtrugby.ie/squad-update-pre-scarlets/

Would like to see Heffernan retain his place and Carey brought in for Bealham. Not really much choice in the second row, at least Dillane is on an upward trajectory if he can cut out the stupid errors. Think McKeon is worth a shot instead of Masterson, who has struggled to impose himself since coming back from injury.

Really hard to know what 10-12-13 axis would be best, nobody's really putting their hand up. Ili and O'Halloran back into the back 3.