Scotland captain Mike Blair and flanker Ally Hogg, who both scored tries in Saturday’s late defeat against Italy in the RBS 6 Nations, will play with Hogg taking the armband.

Simon Webster, Hugo Southwell and Craig Smith, who all played in Scotland’s final RBS 6 Nations match, also come back but prop Allan Jacobsen misses out after suffering a groin injury.

Scotland hooker Ross Ford is also ruled out because of ankle ligament damage he suffered in the Calcutta Cup win the previous weekend.

However, centre Nick de Luca and number eight Dave Callam will return from injuries which kept them out of Scotland duty.

Robinson said: “We are extremely pleased to be able to welcome back the Scotland contingent immediately after the Six Nations.

“Friday’s home match against Connacht is the first of our final six matches in the league and it is important we produce a good performance.

“We realise that Connacht is going to be a difficult test and, after assessing their recent performances, we are under no illusions they will prove to be tough opponents.

“But we are expecting a decent crowd for this match and it would be ideal if we could mark the Easter weekend with a home win.”

Greig Laidlaw, Ali Warnock and Scott Newlands are unavailable after being called up for the Scotland Sevens squad for the forthcoming tournament in Hong Kong.

But winger Andrew Turnbull has been named on the bench after Sevens coach Stephen Gemmell allowed him to to stay with Edinburgh after Roland Reid dropped out of Robinson’s squad with a hamstring injury.