"This is the biggest game we have had all season.

"The weather's great and the atmosphere is great, the pitch is perfect, so we expect a more open game than last time.

"Connacht finished above us, have a great home record and have only lost one game here all season.

"So we are going to have to play our very best to win today."

Image source, SNS

Tom English
BBC Sport Scotland in Galway

Image source, SNS

A feature of Connacht's success this season has been continuity and coach Pat Lam makes only one change, with flanker Eoin McKeon replacing Sean O'Brien. Ireland prop Finlay Bealham has shaken off a knock picked up two weeks ago and starts.

Glasgow have made five changes to their starting line-up since their last visit to Galway, at least two of them forced.

Alex Dunbar's season was ended by injury, but fellow Scotland centre Mark Bennett is an able replacement. Henry Pyrgos returns from injury to replace Ali Price at scrum-half, while veteran Scotland team-mate Sean Lamont takes over from Lee Jones on the wing. 

With Sila Puafisi suspended for that head butt in the last game against Connacht, it gives 20-year-old Zander Fagerson a start at prop, while Italy international Simone Favaro takes over from Rob Harley in the back row, with the Scotland forward dropping out the squad completely.

Scotland centre Peter Horne makes his 100th Glasgow appearance.

Connacht: T O'Halloran; N Adeolokun, R Henshaw, B Aki, M Healy; AJ MacGinty, K Marmion; R Loughney, T McCartney, F Bealham; U Dillane, A Muldowney; E McKeon, J Heenan, J Muldoon (capt).

Replacements: D Heffernan, JP Cooney, R Ah You, A Browne, S O'Brien, John Cooney, S O'Leary, P Robb

Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; T Seymour, M Bennett, P Horne, S Lamont; F Russell, H Pyrgos; G Reid, F Brown, Z Fagerson; L Nakarawa, J Gray (capt); R Wilson, S Favaro, J Strauss.

Replacements: P MacArthur, R Grant, D Rae, T Swinson, A Ashe, G Hart, D Weir, T Naiyaravoro

Glasgow themselves have an informant from the opposition camp in the shape of Dan McFarland. 

The former prop, who is now assistant to head coach Gregor Townsend, spent 15 years at Connacht as a player and then coach, leaving his assistant post as he swapped Galway for Glasgow last summer.

The additional carrot, if they need one, for Glasgow is the prospect of a "home" final at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.

However, Scotland's national stadium is also fondly remembered by Connacht head coach Pat Lam. The Samoan, the league's coach of the year, began his coaching career there as part of national boss Ian McGeechan's backroom team for the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Image source, SNS

Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend has put a brave face on that final-day defeat in Galway by suggesting that it "sharpened our focus" for the semi-final.

However, it proved expensive for the Warriors not only because it denied them the chance to play host at Scotstoun Stadium but also because of a season-ending injury to Scotland centre Alex Dunbar and the suspension of Tonga prop Sila Puafisi, whose red card in Galway handed the initiative to Connacht.

Image source, SNS

It is the seventh season of the Pro12 play-offs. No away side has won in the 13 games before today.

2010: Ospreys 20-5 Glasgow Warriors,  Leinster 16-6 Munster

2011: Leinster 18-3 Ulster, Munster 18-11 Ospreys 

2012: Ospreys 45-10 Munster, Leinster 19-15 Glasgow Warriors

2013: Ulster 28-17 Scarlets, Leinster 17-15 Glasgow Warriors

2014:Glasgow Warriors 16-15 Munster, Leinster 13-9 Ulster

2015:Glasgow Warriors 16-14 Ulster, Munster 21-18 Ospreys

2016: Leinster 30-18 Ulster

Who are your Pro12 team of the season so far? And who would give Leinster the tougher match in the final? 

Give us your thoughts on that and today's events in Galway.

Contact us on Twitter @BBCSportScot, text on 80295 or comment on the BBC Sport Scotland Facebook page.

It is a quirk of the Pro12 that the semi-finals are one-leg affairs with the two sides finishing at the top of the table being handed home ties.

Connacht secured theirs by defeating this evening's opponents in a dramatic 14-7 final-day, winner-takes-all game at the same venue to finish behind Leinster.

That sequence of home dominance in semi-finals was prolonged last night as Leinster stayed on course for a third Pro12 title in four seasons by defeating Ulster 30-18.

The side who finished top of the Pro12 table lie in wait for either reigning champions Glasgow or Connacht, this season's surprise packages who could make it an all-Ireland final.

Image source, Getty Images

Nearly a year ago, Glasgow Warriors became the first Scottish side to win the Pro12 title. Today, they will re-write the history books again. 

Win at The Sportsground in Galway and they will become the first away side to emerge victorious from a Pro12 semi-final. Lose and it will allow Connacht to reach their first-ever final.

Image source, SNS