Connacht v Edinburgh: Teams

h3At the Sportsground, Friday April 1, Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Keith Matthews will celebrate his 100th cap when he lines up for Connacht in Friday's Magners League clash with Edinburgh.

The 28-year-old centre joined from Munster in 2005 and has been a regular feature in the Connacht squad ever since.

"I was on a development contract down in Munster when Brads (Michael Bradley) phoned me and offered me a spot, I jumped at the chance to play regular Magners League and haven't looked back since," said Matthews.

"It's taken a while to get to this milestone; I've had a few injuries along the way. Amongst other injuries I damaged my cruciate ligament against Munster in '07 and was out for 9 months so that didn't help but I'm delighted to reach 100 caps for Connacht, it's a huge personal achievement.

"I've been involved in some great games over the years, beating Munster here at The Sportsground 2 years ago, beating Bourgoin in the quarter final of the Amlin Challenge Cup here last season and captaining the side against Munster on St Stephens Day this year.

"Hopefully there'll be many more to come, I'm enjoying my rugby more than ever and playing some of the best rugby of my career so I've no intention of giving up just yet!"

Hooker Adrian Flavin could also earn his 100th cap this weekend. The number two, who joined Connacht in 2006, will feature from the bench this weekend.

Rested Scots

Edinburgh will seek to build on their win over Ospreys in their penultimate away Magners League match of the season.

It was against the Irish team that the Scottish capital outfit completed their last set of back-to-back wins, courtesy of a 24-19 victory at home in November.

The one change from the Ospreys game sees Geoff Cross, who impressed for Scotland in their last two RBS Six Nations matches, return at tighthead prop in place of David Young.

Mike Blair, who reached his century in the Magnes League last weekend, continues his half-back pairing with Greig Laidlaw.

Ross Ford and Allan Jacobsen, mainstays of the Scotland pack in the Six Nations, are to be rested from Edinburgh's final four Magners League fixtures in order that they approach their season 2011/12 commitments with both club and country in the best possible shape.

"Any coach will always want to field his strongest possible team - that's natural and I'm no different. Player welfare has always been a top priority for Edinburgh, and we recognise and understand the need to balance our players' commitments in what is a very busy rugby year," said Edinburgh interim head coach Nick Scrivener.

"We performed really well as a team against Ospreys last weekend, and it's going to take exactly the same levels of intensity and precision to get the result we want in Connacht," he said.

"The weather forecast for the next couple of days over there isn't great, so we're prepared for a lot of onus falling on our set-piece. Our line-out went very well last time out, and we'll now be looking for a repeat as well as the same degree of effectiveness from the scrum."

Connacht:15 Gavin Dufffy, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Troy Nathan, 12 Keith Matthews, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 Ray Ofisa, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 Andrew Browne, 5 Bernie Upton, 4 Mike McCarthy, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Ronan Loughney.

Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Brett Wilkinson, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Mike McComish, 20 John Muldoon, 21 Mark Dolan, 22 Eoin Griffin, 23 Shane Monahan.

Edinburgh: 15 Jim Thompson, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw, 9 Mike Blair, 8 David Denton, 7 Scott Newlands, 6 Fraser McKenzie, 5 Esteban Lozada, 4 Scott MacLeod, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Andrew Kelly (capt), 1 Kyle Traynor.

Replacements: 16 Alun Walker, 17 Lewis Niven, 18 Robin Hislop 19 Steven Turnbull, 20 Roddy Grant, 21 David Blair, 22 Nick De Luca, 23 Lee Jones.