Ruaridh’s inclusion sees Duncan Weir move to the bench in place of Colin Shaw who drops out of the 23 altogether.
On the thought of having both specialist stand-offs available for this fixture, head coach Sean Lineen said: “It’s great to have Ruaridh back because he’s been playing so well for us. Obviously Duncan had a solid game last weekend so it’s fantastic to have both young tens back together and battling it out.”
Looking toward what is sure to be an intense battle between two sides sitting alongside each other in the table, Sean continued: “Don’t underestimate Connacht. We have a lot of respect for them because Connacht is a difficult place to go, they don’t lose many games at home.
“There is a lot of pressure on us to get the result we need. We have to get back to our winning ways and we know that.
“There are nine games to go and we are in charge of those. It’s how we perform in these games that will depend on how we go into what is a World Cup season.”
14 Hefin O'Hare
13 Federico Aramburu
12 Peter Murchie
11 DTH van der Merwe
10 Ruaridh Jackson
9 Colin Gregor CAPTAIN
1 Ryan Grant
2 Fergus Thomson
3 Ed Kalman
4 Aly Muldowney
5 Tom Ryder
6 Robert Harley
7 Calum Forrester
8 Johnnie Beattie
Substitutes: 16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Jon Welsh, 18 Kevin Tkachuk, 19 Ryan Wilson, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Peter Horne