Preview: Leicester v Gloucester

Editor

Leicester will be hoping to improve on last week's narrow 27-20 loss to Sale when they face Gloucester at Welford Road in the Premiership on Saturday.

Telusa Veainu and Logovi'i Mulipola return for the Tigers, Tongan international Veainu starts at full-back, with Adam Thompstone selected on the wing after sitting out last week's trip to Sale Sharks. Mulipola meanwhile returns to the front row after a one-match ban while club captain Ed Slater is at number eight and Lachlan McCaffrey is included again after missing out last week.

Owen Williams is at fly-half alongside Ben Youngs, with Freddie Burns among the replacements.

Openside flanker Brendon O'Connor is included among the replacements after an absence due to a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, Ben Morgan makes his first appearance since mid February as Gloucester made seven changes for this one. The England international number eight last featured in the 28-6 victory over Harlequins at Kingsholm but returns to take his place in the Gloucester back row.

Other changes see Paul Doran-Jones start at tighthead prop, Mariano Galarza come in to partner Tom Savage in the second row and Gareth Evans make his first start of the season on the blindside flank. In the backs, there is a new look centre pairing in Mark Atkinson and Henry Trinder while Rob Cook takes over from David Halaifonua on the right wing 

Form: Leicester Tigers last seven fixtures have all been won by the home side on the day whilst their only defeat at Welford Road in their last 18 Premiership Rugby matches was to Sale on February 6  Gloucester have slipped to three successive defeats and have not lost four in a row in the Premiership since November 2013  Gloucester’s only away victory in the competition since round one came when they visited Bath on February 5  The Tigers only defeat in their last six encounters with Gloucester was 16-33 at Kingsholm in October 2014  The Cherry & Whites have not own at Welford Road since October 2007 

The teams:

Leicester Tigers: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Peter Betham, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ed Slater (c), 7 Lachlan McCaffrey, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola
Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Sebastian de Chaves, 20 Brendon O'Connor, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Mathew Tait

Gloucester: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Rob Cook, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Steve McColl, 10 James Hook, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Gareth Evans, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Paddy McAllister
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 John Afoa, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Ollie Thorley, 23 Jacob Rowan

Date: Saturday, April 2
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 15:15 BST (14:15 GMT)
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant Referees: Nigel Carrick, Paul Burton
TMO: David Grashof