Meanwhile, centre Matt Currie is set to make his first appearance this season having recovered from Vertigo. Youngsters Jack Brown (20), wing Lewis Wells (23) and back-row Freddy Douglas (20) are also starters.
Connor Boyle is named on the bench and is set for his first appearance in over 12 months, having competed his comeback from a long-term knee injury. Fellow openside Hamish Watson is also named among the replacements.
“You’ve got to plan your season in advance to make sure that you’ve got your strongest team available when necessary,” said Everitt. “At the same time, you’ve got to balance that with developing guys to come through and play at the HIGHEST level and give them experience. The team that we’ve selected, there’s a good mixture, once again, between youth and experience, similar to what we had against Ospreys.
“Jack Brown has now played quite a number of senior games for us and done really well in his position. So we’re looking forward to what he can bring as a back-up to Harry Patterson. They’re very similar in what they can bring – really strong under the high ball and good in the kicking game. So, yes, there are a lot of changes, but it’s still an experienced team that we have, with bringing through a guy like Ollie as well at tight-head and getting a second start.”
Everitt has been criticised in the past for his apparent reluctance to give young players game-time, but has been pretty bold in his selections in recent weeks. Blyth-Lafferty was given his first appearance a fortnight ago and then his first start last week against a powerful Toulon scrum last Sunday. This week, he has named Mikey Jones – a 23-year-old who has only one appearance and five minutes of rugby at this level back in April 2024 to his name – as replacement loose-head.
“When I came in, these guys were obviously two years younger, which made them very young,” Everitt reasoned. “They’re now coming of age. Look at Liam [McConnell], how he’s come on in the last two years. What they’re showing me in training is that they’re willing to compete and they’ve learnt a lot from the senior players. They’re challenging the senior players and that for me is pleasing.
“You also have to reward good performances day-in and day-out at the club. Mikey had that game [for Emerging Scotland] against Tonga when he had that great line break down the middle of the field and he also scrummed really well against the big guy Ben Tameifuna. So, yes, it does give me confidence and I think at the same time you’ve got to let these guys play when they’re ready and I believe that they are ready now.
“I expect big things from Mikey. He’s got an opportunity now – he’s worked really hard at his game. We’ve got good competition in that position with Boan Venter, Pierre Schoeman and Mikey as well as James Whitcombe.
“We’ve got a young Ben White coming through as well, so we’re pretty well stocked there. It’s about making sure that they get game-time now and develop, whether it be in ‘A’ team games, whether it be in club games, or for that matter, ‘championship’ games like we have this week.”
Everitt also revealed that Marhsall Sykes is set to miss the Six Nations with the arm injury he picked up against Toulon last weekend.
“Marshall is going to undergo surgery on his bicep,” he said. “He’ll be out for a long period of time. He’s a 10 to12 week injury. It’s unfortunate for a guy that was probably peaking in the season. He’s a massive contributor to our set-piece and our set-piece success that we’ve had. So we’ll miss him.
“But it’s fortunate for us with the depth that we’ve got in that position. Callum Hunter-Hill gets another opportunity to start, after coming off the bench against Ospreys, so he can build some continuity in that position. And then we’ve got Glen Young, who’s an experienced campaigner at the club, a really good line-out caller and a guy that’s got a high work rate.
“So, although we’ll miss Marshall, we’ve got some players in place – although we do have a few injuries further down the line. We’ve got a young Christian Lindsay who injured his shoulder against Tonga, as well as Euan McVie, who will be returning to training next week.
“We won’t be seeing Luke Crosbie back any time soon, Ben Muncaster is mid-January and Sam Skinner is earmarked for the last week of January.”” he added.
Asked about Darcy Graham, Everitt explained: “He had a bit of a back flare-up last week and he pushed through the game. We just felt for his own personal welfare that he doesn’t play this weekend. If he were 100 percent fit and got through last week’s game without any hitches, he would have been selected this week.”
Edinburgh (v Catres @ Stade Pierre-Fabre on Sunday, 1pm GMT/2pm local-time kick-off – live on Premier Sports): J Brown; R McCann, M Currie, P O’Conor, L Wells; C Scott, B Vellacott; B Venter, H Morris, O Blyth-Laffety, C Hunter-Hill, G Young, L McConnell, F Douglas, T Dodd. Replacements: E Ashman, M Jones, P Hill, C Boyle, H Watson, C Shiel, J Lang, W Goosen.
Castres Olympique: G Palis; C Ambadiang, V Botitu, J Goodhue, A Vargas; P Popelin, J Fernandez; Q Walcker, L Zarantonello, A Azar, G Maravat, T Staniforth, B Delaporte (c), T Ardron, A Papalii
Subs: T Durand-Pradere, L Guerois-Galisson, N Corato, L Nakarawa, B Cope, G Doubrere, E Herve, V Karawalevu
Unavailable for Edinburgh: Pierre Schoeman, Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham, Magnus Bradbury, Grant Gilchrist (all rest protocol), Charlie McCaig (knee), Rhys Litterick (achilles), Rob Carmichael (wrist), Mosese Tuipulotu (knee), Tom Currie (knee), Luke Crosbie (hamstring), D’arcy Rae (ankle), Sam Skinner (hamstring), Paddy Harrison (back), Ben Muncaster (knee), Marshall Sykes (arm), Harry Paterson (hamstring), Findlay Thomson (hand)
