James Phillips will captain a youthful London Scottish side this Saturday when the Club begin their British & Irish Cup campaign at Pontypridd, 2.30pm kick-off.
Loan signings, Chris Auld and Connor Braid, recruited from Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors respectively, form an exciting new midfield partnership alongside fly-half Lee Millar, the first time Auld and Millar have played together since their trophy laden days at Gala.
Academy trio Alex Brown, Charlie Dockery and Alec Coombes will make competitive debuts alongside Bath University student Freddie Clarke.
Prop Stewart Maguire also makes his first competitive start for Scottish with scrum-half Ben Calder and Academy hooker Todd Gleave set for debuts off the replacements bench.
Ponty and London Scottish met in the Pool stages last season with both ties going the way of the home side.
The Welsh have made two semi-final and one quarter-final appearance in the B&I Cup whilst Scottish will look to get past the pool stages for the first time.
Also in Pool One are Greene King IPA Championship leaders Bristol and Irish outfit Connacht who meet on Sunday at Ashton Gate Stadium.
London Scottish Head Coach James Buckland said: “I don’t think you could have picked a tougher pool but it's a competition we think a lot of.
“The two matches against Pontypridd last season were really tough, physical encounters. We had an enjoyable trip to Wales and even though we came off second best it was a great atmosphere, something a lot of our players will not have experienced.
“The new guys coming in this week have trained really hard and the challenge has been set from the Plymouth Albion game on Sunday. It's all about maintaining standards.”
On the new centre pairing, he added: “We are really delighted to have both Chris and Connor on board and the fact we can benefit from our relationship with Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby is fantastic.
“What's particularly pleasing is that we have the kind of environment where players can come straight in and enjoy what they are doing with a smile on their face.
“They fit right in and I'm looking forward to seeing how they go.”
Watch James Buckland's LSTV interview here.
London Scottish squad to face Pontypridd at Sardis Road on Saturday, October 11, 2.30pm kick-off.
15, Peter Lydon, 14, Charlie Dockery, 13, Chris Auld, 12, Connor Braid, 11, Alex Coombes, 10, Lee Millar, 9, Matt Heeks, 1, Mark Lilley, 2, David Cherry, 3, Stewart Maguire, 4, Tai Tuisamoa, 5, Gregor Gillanders, 6, Alex Brown, 7, Freddie Clarke, 8, James Phillips (c).
Replacements: 16, James Hallam, 17, Todd Gleave, 18, Max Maidment, 19, Adam Preocanin, 20, Chris Walker, 21, Ben Calder, 22, Matt Williams.
