George Ford returns as Tigers face daunting Toulon trip

David Skippers
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Steve Borthwick has made two changes to the Leicester matchday squad which was prepared for the European Challenge Cup quarter-final, ahead of Saturday’s semi-final away to Toulon.

The Tigers starting line-up has one alteration from the team named against Castres, with Kini Murimurivalu shifting to full-back and Harry Potter included on one wing with Nemani Nadolo on the other for the trip to France.

On the bench, Thom Smith replaces Jordan Taufua, who is unavailable after knee surgery this week, and Dan Kelly is included as one of the replacement backs.

However, having not featured due to the Castres cancellation, George Ford will make his first appearance in three weeks alongside Ben Youngs at half-back.

Ellis Genge, Tom Youngs and Dan Cole make up the front-row, with Tomás Lavanini and Calum Green as the locks in the tight five.

Tommy Reffell, who missed the club’s last outing, against Northampton Saints at Welford Road, starts at openside flanker alongside Harry Wells and Hanro Liebenberg in the Leicester back-row.

Jaco Taute also returns after a spell on the sidelines with a knee complaint, and is at outside centre alongside Matt Scott in the midfield.

Charlie Clare, Facundo Gigena, Nephi Leatigaga are the front-row cover, with back-rowers Luke Wallace and Smith the other forwards on the bench. Ben White, Zack Henry and Kelly are the backs included among the replacements.

For Toulon, they have largely kept faith with the team that edged past the Scarlets last weekend, with talented youngster Louis Carbonel the only change in the starting XV.

He replaces Baptiste Serin, who drops out of the squad completely, as Anthony Meric is named among the replacements.

Meric is joined on the bench by loosehead Sébastien Taofifenua, with the prop getting the nod ahead of Florian Fresia.

The teams:

Toulon: 15 Daniel Ikpefan, 14 Masivesi Dakuwaqa, 13 Bryce Heem, 12 Duncan Paia’aua, 11 Gabin Villière, 10 Louis Carbonel, 9 Tane Takulua, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Raphael Lakafia, 6 Charles Ollivon, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Anthony Etrillard (c), 1 Jean Baptiste-Gros
Replacements: 16 Bastien Soury, 17 Sébastien Taofifenua, 18 Emerick Setiano, 19 Erwan Dridi, 20 Brian Alainu’uese, 21 Julien Ory, 22 Anthony Meric, 23 Facundo Isa

Leicester Tigers: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Harry Potter, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Harry Wells, 5 Calum Green, 4 Tomás Lavanini, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Nephi Leatigaga, 19 Thom Smith, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Ben White, 22 Zack Henry, 23 Dan Kelly

Date: Saturday, September 26
Venue: Stade Félix Mayol
Kick-off: 21:00 local (20:00 BST, 19:00 GMT)
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)

 

Challenge Cup