IT IS 15 months since the Scarlets last lost at their home ground in Llanelli; nine since Edinburgh last won in Wales.

The Scots have to overcome both hurdles if they are to give themselves a realistic chance of making the top six in the Guinness PRO12 and earning top-tier European rugby next season.

It is, admits Ben Toolis, one of the latest capped players to emerge from the club, a huge challenge but, four weeks after experiencing the high of running onto BT Murrayfield for his Test debut, it is one that he feels up to. "It's a big game. They are a point ahead of us, so we definitely need to win because if we don't we need other results to go our way," he said

"The Scarlets haven't lost at home [in the league this season], but we were in this tough position a few months ago at Connacht, who had also not lost at home, when we needed a win and got it. We've got Scotland boys coming back. They've also got a few Welsh guys, but we'll give it a crack."

For Toolis, it is his first outing since that bittersweet day at Murrayfield when he experienced the joy of winning his first cap only to be sin-binned nine minutes later and be forced to sit on the sidelines as Italy turned to their mauling game and won a penalty try in the dying seconds to snatch the result, their first win at the home of Scottish rugby since 2007.

He has been mostly training with the national group since then but didn't make it back into the match-day squad once Jim Hamilton was restored to the 23. Despite that, Toolis is adamant it was an exciting experience for him and he comes back to Edinburgh a better player after training at the higher level.

"It's been great being in the Scotland squad, I've learned a lot while trying to make a claim for myself, but obviously I haven't had a lot of game time," he said. "I played [for Edinburgh in] the Treviso game, which is good, got the cobwebs out and stuff. We're really keen to get back and play a really important game this time.

"At the start [of the training camp] I felt there was a bit of pressure but there wasn't really. It was great to get the first cap and get a bit of a taste of it, but it left me wanting more. The idea is to keep going out there and getting better. There's that mentality of switching of training from Scotland to Edinburgh, but was good. You learn a lot, and you see the difference going back to Edinburgh which is quite cool. The step up is quite intense. You just want more of it I guess."

Toolis is one of six from the RBS 6 Nations Championship squad to return to action in the Scotland team - though David Denton at No.8 is the only one from the starting fifteen in the final games to be asked to back up international action last week with a club run this week. Alan Solomons, the head coach, had already announced that Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, Matt Scott and Dougie Fife were all being rested or were not being risked with minor injuries this week.

It is a delicate balancing act for the coaches. At one level, today's match is crucial to their hopes of European Champions Cup rugby next season. With five games left, they are a point behind the Scarlets, but have a tougher run-in so their only realistic chance is to edge in front this afternoon and hope they can hang on. The odds on them making up ground on the Scarlets if they fall four or five points behind are remote. Connacht are also in the hunt but have the toughest run-in of all, starting with their visit to Thomond Park tonight.

Set against that is the European Challenge Cup quarter-final against London Irish next week. It is a match Edinburgh believe they can win, with the added lure of a home semi final to the side that emerges victorious. The hope of using that favourable draw to engineer a first European final is within their grasp - but they will need all their big guns firing to win at the Madejski Stadium next week.