Preview: Leicester v London Irish

Three Six Nations internationals return to the Leicester team for Saturday's Guinness Premiership clash with London Irish.

Geordan Murphy, Toby Flood and Martin Castrogiovanni return from the Six Nations to the Leicester team for Saturday's clash with London Irish.

Club captain Murphy returns at full-back after gaining his 63rd cap for Ireland at Twickenham.

Scott Hamilton moves to wing to accommodate Murphy, while Flood resumes at fly-half, and Lote Tuqiri makes his final appearance for the club before his return to Australia next week.

Castrogiovanni takes the tighthead prop shirt and the only other change since last week's trip to Northampton Saints is in the second row, where Calum Green takes over from the injured Ben Kay.

Back-rower Tom Croft is named among the replacements on his return from injury.

Head coach Richard Cockerill said: “We played poorly at Northampton last week, our standards are higher than that, and the manner of the defeat hurts. But we move on and we are still a good team, we are still the defending champions.

“We didn't like losing last week and we have to do everything we can to bounce back.

“Irish are a good side, they play with some width, their back-rowers are very direct and very good over the ball, and they have some stand-out performers across the pitch. If you make mistakes or if you are not on top of your game, they can punish you.”

As well as Kay, Tigers have Lucas Amorosino, Richard Blaze, Dan Hipkiss and Aaron Mauger sidelined, while England trio Dan Cole, Louis Deacon and Lewis Moody are unavailable.

Meanwhile, having been released from duty with the England EPS for the Six Nations, Paul Hodgson returns to London Irish's 23-man squad.

Hodgson is one of three personnel and one positional changes to the starting line-up of the Exiles' team that played Harlequins last weekend.

The 27-year-old returns at scrum-half as Ryan Lamb reverts to his usual fly-half role. John Rudd comes into the team on the right wing in place of Topsy Ojo who is injured. The remaining change is in the front row where James Buckland starts at hooker.

“It was great to get a good win in front of our home crowd at the Madejski Stadium last Sunday,” said Toby Booth, London Irish Head Coach.

“What was especially pleasing was the nature of the victory, not just the victory itself. We were dominant in so many areas that we go into the Leicester match with a lot of self belief.

“Leicester will be smarting after their defeat to Northampton Saints, so we have to be mindful of that. They are top of the table at the moment, but we've made significant improvements in recent weeks, and this will be a great opportunity to measure that improvement.” Booth added.

Form: Leicester's 29 game run during which they have picked up at least one league point from every match came to an end at Northampton on Saturday. The only visiting side to come away from Welford Road with a league point in the Guinness Premiership this season was Worcester in their 14-19 loss on 3 October. London Irish's seven game winless run in all competitions ended on Sunday with their 29-14 eclipsing of Harlequins at Madejski Stadium. The Exiles are the second best away team in the Guinness Premiership having picked up 19 league points on their travels this season. London Irish won 18-12 when the two clubs met at Madejski Stadium in round 6, and are seeking a second Premiership double over the current champions having won home and away in season 2002/03.

The teams:

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Lote Tuqiri, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Woods, 6 Craig Newby, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Calum Green, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Julian White, 19 Brett Deacon, 20 Tom Croft, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Matt Smith.

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 John Rudd, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Peter Hewat, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 George Stowers, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 James Buckland, 1 Dan Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Paulica Ion, 19 Kieran Roche, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Chris Malone, 22 Mike Catt, 22 Jamie Lennard.

Date: Saturday, March 6
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 17.35 GMT
Referee: Christophe Berdos