GREGOR TOWNSEND has prepared his Glasgow Warriors to be wide boys against Edinburgh tonight.

The Scotstoun club travel along the M8 to BT Murrayfield with an 1872 Cup first-leg win already safely tucked away.

It is a venue many of Glasgow's Scottish contingent are more than familiar with, especially after a large number of them featured there in dark blue back in the AutumnTests.

Head coach Townsend is seeking to utilise this experience to cancel out any home advantage Edinburgh may hold, and he is confident the vast expanse of green inside the national stadium will suit his team the most.

He said: "Murrayfield is the maximum width of 70 metres, while we are 63 or 64 metres. Murrayfield is also six or seven metres longer, and they have about 30 yards of dead ball area, when we have about six.

"It is not a huge difference, but it definitely makes a difference. You are playing on the biggest pitch you can play on. Ravenhill is a big pitch as well, as is the Ospreys ground. It does mean there is more turf to defend.

"Factors that we always look at before games are the condition of the pitch, the dimension of the pitch and the weather. You can play the rugby you want to play more easily if the weather is better. If it stays dry and cold that would be good.

"I believe it suits us, yes. We have enjoyed playing at Murrayfield in the last couple of seasons. Last year the pitch wasn't in great condition, so we didn't get the advantage, but the year before we loved playing there. It looks in great condition now.

"It is Edinburgh's home pitch, but a few of our guys played on it in November. Let's just hope we get good weather and we have a cracking game."

The Warriors, who won the first leg 16-6, welcome back a number of players who were rested last week, including Tommy Seymour, Finn Russell, Gordon Reid, Jonny Gray and Fraser Brown.

Peter Murchie replaces Stuart Hogg at full-back, with Hogg named among the replacements, while Sean Maitland comes in for Sean Lamont on the right wing and Seymour replaces DTH van der Merwe on the opposite side.

It's an all-new front row with Reid and Jon Welsh coming in for Ryan Grant and Euan Murray at loose-head and tight-head respectively.

Al Kellock continues to captain the side from the engine room, after his man-of-the-match performance last weekend.

Townsend said: "It's great that we're able welcome back some players who were rested last weekend and this allows us to freshen up the squad. A number of players have earned the opportunity to play in this fixture and we'll need to play better tonight if we're to come away with a positive result.

"We're expecting another tough match, but it will be great to play an away game with so many of our supporters at the ground. We should be excited no matter where we play. We play in some great venues and this is one we don't have to get a flight to."

Warriors: Murchie; Maitland, Dunbar, Horne, Seymour; Russell, Matawalu; Reid, Hall, Welsh, Gray, Kellock (captain), Wilson, Holmes, Strauss. Replacements: Brown, Allan, Murray, Nakarawa, Eddie, Price, Vernon, Hogg.