Preview: Leicester v London Irish
Martin Castrogiovanni and Louis Deacon return to Leicester's starting XV for Saturday's Aviva Premiership clash against London Irish.
Martin Castrogiovanni and Louis Deacon return to Leicester Tigers' starting XV for Saturday's Aviva Premiership clash with the Exiles.
Tighthead prop Castrogiovanni and lock Deacon have made only one appearance each as replacements since returning from Rugby World Cup duty, but are ready to return to the Tigers run-on team at Welford Road this weekend.
Castrogiovanni comes into the front row as Dan Cole, starter in each of the two games since his return to the club, switches to a place among the replacements, and Deacon comes into the second row, with George Skivington on the bench.
Director of rugby Richard Cockerill expects his side to continue where they left off after they beat Sale last weekend.
“We had a good win at Sale last week but it is just one game and we know we have to build on that,” he said.
“We have to be looking for a more complete performance moving on from here because we made some errors at Sale, especially in the first half.
“London Irish score plenty of tries, as we saw here last year, and they are a very dangerous team,” added Cockerill.
Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi, Mathew Tait, Anthony Allen and Billy Twelvetrees are unavailable due to injury and scrum-half Micky Young played an hour of Monday's Development XV match as he works his way back from a calf problem.
Meanwhile, London Irish's World Cup trio of Alex Corbisiero, Sailosi Tagicakibau and Jebb Sinclair will start for the Exiles.
Sinclair will start his first game for London Irish at number eight and Alex Corbisiero and Sailosi Tagicakibau will start their first games of the season at prop and at wing respectively.
Ross Samson will start at scrum-half alongside Dan Bowden who captains the side, James Sandford will partner Bryn Evans in the second row and Steve Shingler will play alongside Shontayne Hape at outside centre.
London Irish head coach Toby Booth expects a tough outing at a venue where the Exiles are yet to register a win under his guidance.
“We've been competitive at Leicester under my tenure, but have never won. It's a very tough place to go. We're up for it as there is another Premiership four points up for offer,” he said.
Form: Leicester Tigers are the worst home team in Aviva Premiership Rugby having secured a solitary league point from their three games at Welford Road so far. The Tigers have won their last two games in all competitions against Gloucester and Sale. London Irish tripped up by the narrowest of margins in a 12-13 defeat by Bath at Madejski Stadium on Saturday and have won just one of their last five away matches: 14-13 at Northampton on 17 September. The Tigers have won six of their last seven encounters with London Irish, whilst the Exiles only win at Welford Road in 25 previous visits since 1923 was 20-19 in the Premiership on 3 May 2003.
The teams:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Horacio Agulla, 12 Matt Smith, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Dan Cole, 19 George Skivington, 20 Ed Slater, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Niall Morris.
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Steven Shingler, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Dan Bowden (c), 9 Ross Samson, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Declan Danaher, 5 Bryn Evans, 4 James Sandford, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 David Paice, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Adam Thompstone, 22 Adrian Jarvis, 23 Darren Allinson.
Date: Saturday, 5 November
Venue: Welford Road, Leicester
Kick-off: 15:05 (14:05 GMT)
Referee: David Pearson