Tigers, Saints boosted by returning internationals

Adam Kyriacou

Leicester Tigers' Manu Tuilagi during the Heineken Champions Cup match at Welford Road, Leicester. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday December 16, 2018. See PA story RUGBYU Leicester. Photo credit should read: Mike Egerton/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only, No commercial use without prior permission.

Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints kick-off Round 17 of the Premiership season in what should be a tasty East Midlands derby clash. 

Leicester Tigers welcome back five of their England internationals for this encounter.

Manu Tuilagi, making his first appearance since agreeing a new contract at the club, is joined in the starting line-up by England colleagues Jonny May, George Ford, Ellis Genge and Dan Cole on their return from Six Nations duties.

Ben Youngs sits out after taking a knock during the Six Nations and Wales cap Jonah Holmes is also unavailable for the first league fixture since the end of the Championship.

But Tigers do welcome back Brendon O’Connor and Sam Harrison after injury. Guy Thompson lines up at number eight in the absence of Sione Kalamafoni, who starts a three-game ban following his red card against Sale Sharks in Round 16.

Matt Toomua and Gareth Owen also return from injury and are included among the replacements.

Meanwhile, Northampton’s director of rugby Chris Boyd has made eight changes to his Northampton Saints run-on side ahead of this East Midlands derby.

Wales’ Grand Slam winner Dan Biggar makes his return to the number 10 jersey for the visit to Welford Road with club top-scorer Cobus Reinach also recalled as Saints try to avenge October’s Premiership defeat at Twickenham.

It’s a short turnaround for the men in Black, Green and Gold after lifting the Premiership Rugby Cup on Sunday afternoon, but after claiming their first piece of major silverware in five years Saints will be confident of notching up a second win on Tigers soil in as many seasons.

Number eight Teimana Harrison will lead out Northampton in Leicester, with Jamie Gibson and Heinrich Brüssow coming into the back-row either side of the skipper.

Alex Moon and Api Ratuniyarawa continue in the engine room after impressing against Saracens last time out, but loosehead Francois van Wyk and hooker James Fish are selected in the front-row alongside Paul Hill.

There are four more changes to the back-line with Biggar and Reinach returning to the half-back berths for the first time since mid-February.

Rory Hutchinson is selected outside Piers Francis in the midfield with Luther Burrell ruled out through concussion, and in the back three Ahsee Tuala switches to full-back to make room for the fleet-footed Tom Collins – with Taqele Naiyaravoro continuing on the other wing.

Boyd has opted for a mixture of youth and experience amongst the replacements – the likes of Alex Mitchell, Andrew Kellaway and George Furbank will be hoping to make an impact off the bench, while Alex Waller and Tom Wood bring the benefit of 33 East Midlands derby appearances between them.

The teams:

Leicester: 15 Jordan Olowofela, 14 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements:
16 Jake Kerr, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Mike Fitzgerald, 21 Ben White, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Gareth Owen

Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Tom Collins, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison (c), 7 Heinrich Brüssow, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 4 Alex Moon, 3 Paul Hill, 2 James Fish, 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements:
16 Reece Marshall, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Ben Franks, 19 James Craig, 20 Tom Wood, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Andrew Kellaway, 23 George Furbank

Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Paul Dix
Television match official: Graham Hughes