After surrendering the 1872 Cup last time out, Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend has called for a response from his side when they take on Scarlets in GUINNESS PRO12.

Townsend’s troops slipped to a 20-8 defeat against local rivals Edinburgh to surrender the historic trophy for the first time in six years last time out.

With all of the top four losing last week however, the Warriors remain in second in the standings ahead of the visit of the Scarlets to Scotstoun.

Glasgow have won their last 14 GUINNESS PRO12 games at home and Townsend is keen for his side to prove their mettle.

"Tomorrow is a great opportunity to deliver a much improved performance and show our loyal supporters how hard they are willing to work to bounce back with a win,” he said.

"We face a tough challenge against the Scarlets, who are very well-coached and have a number of quality players in their side.”

Mike Cusack makes his first start for the club and will feature for the first time since the defeat to the Dragons at Rodney Parade in February 2014. It will be his first appearance at Scotstoun since November 2012.

The Scottish qualified prop has battled injury and illness over the past two seasons, but his return is a big
boost for the Warriors.

"It's great to be able to welcome back Mike Cusack for tomorrow's match. He's shown a lot of courage over the last couple of seasons and his hard work has been rewarded with a starting place in the team,” added Townsend.

Elsewhere Sean Lamont comes on to the right wing in place of Sean Maitland while in the forwards there is a new front-row, with Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Pat MacArthur and Cusack, coming in for Gordon Reid, Dougie Hall and Jon Welsh.

Tim Swinson replaces Al Kellock in the second-row and he'll partner Jonny Gray while Ryan Wilson moves across the backrow to play at openside flanker, replacing the injured Tyrone Holmes. Leone Nakarawa starts at blindside flanker, with Josh Strauss captains.

Scarlets have made only two changes to the side that was victorious over Ospreys at Parc y Scarlets last weekend with Scarlets Academy and Carmarthen Quins hooker Ryan Elias getting his first Guinness PRO12 start and South African prop Jacobie Adriaanse returning at tighthead.

Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac said: "This weekend's game is massive and I don't think that any one game has more importance over the other in the next month of PRO12 rugby.

"Every PRO12 game, the next three or four especially, are just massive. We've got to get points out of all games. On the road for us a minimum would be a bonus point out of them. We go to Glasgow off the back of the Ospreys game full of confidence and going there to try and get maximum points.

"A lot of team have good home records in this competition at the moment – it's very interesting.

"There's a hell of a lot of rugby still to be played in the competition. The way it's headed it looks like it'll go right down to the wire. It's a very exciting competition, there are nine teams fighting for six European places and potentially seven teams fighting for four play-off positions.”

At Scotstoun Stadium, 7.35pm
Live on BBC Alba and BBC Wales

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU, 65th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Andrew McMenemy, Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Montgomery (SRU)
TMO: David Changleng (SRU)