Alan Solomons, the Edinburgh head coach, has backed his group of young and ambitious scrum-halves to fill the gap left by Gloucester-bound Greig Laidlaw over the weeks and months ahead.

Laidlaw has been withdrawn from all club duties for the next five weeks to allow him to recover from an arduous season and get his sharpness back in time for Scotland's summer tour in June. Solomons said he supported the decision to rest the player, and stressed the fact his absence will give opportunities to those who want to fill his boots in the future.

"Greig is fine and he could play," said Solomons. "But he has had a tough season. We've got three good young Scottish scrum-halves. Grayson [Hart] is from New Zealand but has played for Scotland A, and then we've got Sammy [Hidalgo-Clyne] and Sean [Kennedy]. This affords them an opportunity."

TEAM. Edinburgh (v Benetton Treviso, RaboDirect PRO12, Stadio Monigo, tomorrow, 6pm, BBC ALBA)

C Bezuidenhout; J Cuthbert, M Scott, A Strauss (capt), T Brown; H Leonard, G Hart; A Dickinson, R Ford, W Nel, G Gilchrist (vice-capt), I van der Westhuizen, C Du Preez, R Grant, D Denton

Substitutes J Hilterbrand, W Blaauw, E McQuillin, O Atkins, T Leonardi, S Kennedy, S Beard, S Hidalgo-Clyne