Edinburgh team to face Sharks confirmed with Pierre Schoeman returning

The 33-year-old joins team-mate WP Nel on the list along with record holder Allan Jacobsen and Chris Paterson and he'll co-captain the team once again for the Challenge Cup clash in Durban. 

Sean Everitt's side are back in South Africa for the second time in a matter of weeks and are targeting an improved result having lost 33-13 to Sharks in March. 

The South African has named a strong team to take on his old side with just one change from the side that defeated Bayonne at Murrayfield last weekend with an impressive second half performance. 

Pierre Schoeman returns to the starting XV having missed last weekend's game through concussion and he replaces Luin de Bruin, who drops out of the squad completely. 

He's joined by Ewan Ashman and WP Nel up front while Gilchrist co-captains the team from the second row alongside Sam Skinner. It's the same back row as last week too with Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson joined by Bill Mata.

The half backs sees Ben Healy and Ben Vellacott team up once after impressive performances during last week's game, while Matt Currie and Mark Bennett continue their partnership in the midfield. 

Jake Henry makes his fourth start in a row on the wing and he's joined by Duhan van der Merwe and Wes Goosen in an unchanged back three while Emiliano Boffelli continues his recovery from a back injury.

There's also only one change among the replacements with Boan Venter returning from injury to replace last week's debutant Mikey Jones. 

Venter is joined by Dave Cherry, D'Arcy Rae, Jamie Hodgson and Luke Crosbie to cover the forwards in a 5/3 split while Ali Price, James Lang and Chris Dean continue to provide support for the backs. 

Edinburgh team to face Sharks: W Goosens, J Henry, M Bennett, M Currie, D Van der Merwe, B Healy, B Vellacott, P Schoeman, E Ashman, WP Nel, S Skinner, G Gilchrist, J Ritchie, H Watson, V Mata

Replacements: D Cherry, B Venter, D Rae, J Hodgson, L Crosbie, A Price, J Lang, C Dean