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Scotland prop Pierre Schoeman makes his 100th Edinburgh appearance in Saturday's home game with URC table-toppers Connacht.

The South Africa-born 29-year-old is joined in the front row by Ewan Ashman and Javan Sebastian, with Dave Cherry on the bench and WP Nel rested.

Fiji number 8 Viliame Mata is back from injury to replace the concussed Luke Crosbie, while Connor Boyle starts at openside-flanker with Hamish Watson sidelined with an injured cheekbone.

James Lang is at inside centre after scoring a try from the bench in last weekend's 36-27 loss at Leinster, taking over from the injured Matt Currie.

“It will be a special evening for Pierre," said senior coach Sean Everitt. "It’s great that he can do it in front of the Edinburgh fans, and I’ve got no doubt they’ll give him brilliant reception.

“It will be a tough test against a Connacht side who are full of confidence, but we’re raring to go. It’s been a really strong week of training and the squad are excited to be back home.”

Edinburgh: Kinghorn , Goosen, Bennett, Lang, Van der Merwe, Healy, Shiel; Schoeman, Ashman, Sebastian, Young, Gilchrist (capt), Dodd, Boyle, Mata.

Replacements: Cherry, Venter, Williams, Sykes, Muncaster, Vellacott, Dean, McCann.