Stephen Ferris will make his first Ulster start since late 2012 in Friday’s trip to Edinburgh with the Irish province looking to cement their top-four place in the RaboDirect PRO12.

Back rower Ferris came off the bench for 20 minutes against the Scarlets last time out but comes into the starting line-up in one of six changes made by head coach Mark Anscombe.

Jared Payne is selected at fullback, with Tommy Bowe, who has scored three tries in two matches, picked on the right wing.

Craig Gilroy is named on the left wing, in place of Rory Scholes, with Darren Cave named at outside-centre and Luke Marshall returning to the starting XV at inside-centre having recovered from a head injury.

Ulster’s Ireland internationals – Rory Best, Chris Henry and Andrew Trimble – are rested while Ruan Pienaar misses out through injury but the province have won their last seven matches in all tournaments.

They have also secured bonus-point victories in their last two PRO12 games, over Dragons and Scarlets, and assistant coach Jonny Bell is promising no let-up in Edinburgh.

“We would prefer that Ruan wasn't injured, but we have to manage him and hopefully he will be ready for next week – in a worst-case scenario to face Saracens after that," Bell told the Irish Independent.

"The players that come back will have to realise that this is a very crucial period for us. There is a lot at stake over the next few weeks, but having worked for Joe Schmidt in recent weeks, they know that they cannot take the foot of the gas."

Meanwhile, Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons hosts his former side full of confidence after guiding the Scottish side to four wins in their last five fixtures.

Edinburgh are without rested international trio David Denton, Matt Scott and Greig Laidlaw, but welcome the inclusion of props Willem Nel and Alasdair Dickinson – the latter returning from Scotland duty – in an otherwise unchanged forward pack.

The third personnel change sees Tom Brown take a place on the wing, having recovered from the thigh strain that kept him out of the victory over the Ospreys last time out.

"Ulster are probably one of the top three or four teams in Europe, there's no question about that,” said Solomons.

"It's a great challenge for us. We feel that, as a group, we have improved as the season has gone on, and look forward to the kind of challenges presented by the top teams.

"We looked forward to Ospreys and got the result because we delivered a good performance.

"The same thing applies to this game, however I would say that Ulster are stronger than the Ospreys and will therefore require an even better performance from the players."

Friday 21st March
At Murrayfield, 7.45pm.

Referee: John Lacey (IRFU, 33rd competition game)
Assistant Referees: Neil Paterson, Bob Nevins (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)