Excitement is high in the Welsh capital as Cardiff Blues reclaim the Arms Park as their home ground, but it will be with some reluctance that they invite the night's main guests through the door.

The last team to win at the fabled ground during the Welsh provincial side's previous official occupancy will be in action when Cardiff retake the stadium, but it is Edinburgh rather than the home team that can lay claim to this piece of trivia.

In what acts as a warning to Glasgow Warriors, the Blues spent a fairly unhappy time in between times at the brand new, purpose built Cardiff City Stadium after Edinburgh ruined their opening night there.

Consequently there will be wariness as well as excitement in the home ranks tonight, and Michael Bradley, Edinburgh's coach, got a taste of this when he spoke to Phil Davies, the Blues new head coach, at the RaboDirect Pro12 launch in Glasgow a fortnight ago.

"At that point he was already excited about it because it was going to be his first home competitive match as well," Bradley said. "It is going to be a big day for Cardiff, they are bringing back all their internationals for the match so they are expecting a day of celebration. They are really going back to their home as the Cardiff Blues supporter would consider Cardiff Arms Park to be.

"It is going to be a big day for Cardiff and we are very much aware of that. From our point of view, we've performed to a reasonable level against Munster but we need to pick up on that. It is a great opportunity for us to get back the points that we consider we lost last week."

Having expressed disappointment with his side's discipline immediately after last week's defeat by Munster, Bradley, who felt that match had been a high quality game, has had a chance to re-assess and belatedly handed the match referee a share of the blame.

"The first full penalty Munster conceded was after 47 minutes," he said. "I have been a coach for a long time now and I have never seen a situation where a side, particularly a home side doesn't get a penalty for the entire first half. We have issues with how the game was refereed from that point of view. "If that is a telling factor, then it is one that we weren't in control of because we were as disciplined as they were but we got penalised and they didn't. That is just a fact of life when you are dealing with sport that involves a lot of decision-making by the man in the middle."

In making the four changes he has, one of which was enforced by the hip injury suffered by former All Black centre Ben Atiga, Bradley drew attention to the return of international props Allan Jacobsen and Geoff Cross in warning supporters to get used to regular squad rotation as he seeks to manage his resources.

"We've played well when those lads have played and now we've an opportunity to rest them, get their programme bang on right to accommodate top performances for Edinburgh and top performances for Scotland," he said.

Replying on their behalf, Cross slightly grudgingly welcomed this new approach.

"I believe that it's an opportunity to improve my performance, but I have to acknowledge that it also means that on the flip side of the coin the competition for places is increasing," he pointed out. "But if there's more competition you've got more opportunity to rest and prepare for the matches you do play in."