Team spirit driving quest for momentum

The arrival of interim coaches Stevie Scott and Duncan Hodge, has brought back-to-back wins over Ulster and Zebre, with the game against the Galway men also offering the chance to complete a second successive home and away double in as many rounds.

The club edged their opponents at the Sportsground in December (28-27) and, having completed a double over Zebre before last week's league break, the side are keen to continue their winning ways.

Scott declared: "I've always said that that there are a lot of good players at this club so, for us, it's about getting consistency.

"That's the challenge of tomorrow night. We need to back up what we did against Ulster, where we saw a good response to this new coaching team, and also from the Zebre match, where we showed a lot of guts to grind out the win.

"We've worked hard and played a lot of good rugby in these games, and have been building a lot of spirit in the squad. We now need to take that forward.

"We need to treat our home games as a big advantage to us. We've the backing of our home fans, it's a big pitch and the ground is quick and hard, which suits our players."

Scott has named the same back division that defeated Zebre in Italy and has made three changes to the pack, of which two are enforced: Hamish Watson, Geoff Cross and Grant Gilchrist replace Ross Rennie (who sustained a shoulder against Zebre), Willem Nel (family bereavement) and Perry Parker, who starts on the bench.

Edinburgh Rugby team to play Connacht at Murrayfield Stadium on Friday 12 April (kick-off 7.30pm)

15 Greig Tonks

14 Lee Jones
13 Matt Scott
12 Ben Atiga
11 Tim Visser

10 Piers Francis
9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN

1 Allan Jacobsen
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox
6 Stuart McInally
7 Hamish Watson
8 Netani Talei

Substitutes
16 Steve Lawrie
17 Robin Hislop
18 John Yapp
19 Perry Parker
20 Robert McAlpine
21 Sean Kennedy
22 Harry Leonard
23 Tom Brown

Players unavailable: Alex Allan (ankle), Ben Cairns (knee), Nick De Luca (suspended), David Denton (knee), Jamie Farndale (leg), Roddy Grant (wrist), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (ankle), James King (groin), Chris Leck (shoulder), Willem Nel (family bereavement) Lewis Niven (bicep), Steven Turnbull (knee), Sep Visser (international duty), Alun Walker (hamstring), Izak van der Westhuizen (ankle).