Leicester v Bath - Aviva Premiership match preview
Leicester Tigers will be hoping to return to winning ways against Bath at Welford Road following defeat to Wasps.
Last Updated: 01/12/12 12:32pm
The Tigers are fifth in the Aviva Premiership with 26 points from their opening nine games while Bath are two points behind in seventh position.
Martin Castrogiovanni and Marcos Ayerza return for Leicester, who have won eight of their last night meetings with Bath in league action.
Both props have been on international duty but they return to Tigers colours for the Round 10 fixture against their old rivals.
Thomas Waldrom and Anthony Allen, who are both members of the England Elite Player Squad, are also included in Saturday's starting team.
Bath's internationals Horacio Agulla, Paul James and Francois Louw will be back in action for the West Country side on their away trip.
Agulla takes the outside centre shirt, with Matt Banahan lining up inside him. Having been released by England, Tom Biggs is named on the left wing as Kyle Eastmond continues on the right, and Nick Abendanon starts once again at full-back.
Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 George Ford, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Louis Deacon (c), 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Jonny Harris, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Micky Young, 22 Dan Bowden, 23 Geordan Murphy.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Kyle Eastmond, 13 Horacio Agulla, 12 Matt Banahan, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Josh Ovens, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Tom Heathcote, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
What they said...
Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill
"We need to bounce back quickly from last week," he said. "There was not one player who started at Wasps that probably deserved to wear the shirt this week. There is no point in hiding from that.
"The only positive to take out of the game was the fact that we got a bonus point and we defended well. It was a very disappointing performance. It was just not good enough and we were very disappointed watching the game again.
"Some of the guys who played on Sunday will get the chance to put it right. Some will not, because they will not be in the team."
Bath international Horacio Agulla
"It will be a bit strange for me going into the other changing room at Welford Road, but it will be nice to go back. I have a lot of good memories from my time there, but I'm a Bath player now so I want to go up there and hopefully get a good result with the boys.
"We're really looking forward to the game. We had a great win last weekend against Quins, but we know that Leicester are a really good team, so we will need to be 100 per cent on our game."