Leicester v Treviso: Teams
Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni will make his first start of the season when Leicester welcome Treviso to Welford Road.
Last Updated: 16/01/09 3:42pm
Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni will make his first start of the season when Leicester welcome Treviso to Welford Road.
Castrogiovanni has been nursed back to full fitness, making four appearances off the bench since returning from injury.
There is also a first start since October for flanker Ben Woods, who has overcome a knee injury to join Jordan Crane in the back-row.
In addition, there is a change at scrum-half, with Ben Youngs handed the No.9 jersey.
"The players were disappointed with the team's performance at Northampton last weekend but we have been working hard in training, we have dealt with the disappointment and we have to look forward in a positive frame of mind," said acting head coach Richard Cockerill, who is leading the team in the absence of Heyneke Meyer.
"Now we are back into the Heineken Cup programme and we have two massive games with Treviso at home and then the Ospreys away."
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Seru Rabeni, 12 Aaron Mauger (c), 11 Matt Smith, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Woods, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Marco Wentzel, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Martin Castrogiovanni.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Corry, 19 Brett Deacon, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Derick Hougaard, 22 Johne Murphy.
Benetton Treviso: 15 B Williams, 14 A Vilk, 13 M Horak, 12 M Neethling, 11 E Galon, 10 M Goosen, 9 T Botes, 1 F Sbaraglini, 2 D Vidal, 3 P di Santo, 4 A Pavanello, 5 C Van Zyl, 6 M Gilbride, 7 H Louw, 8 D Kingi.
Replacements: 16 E Ceccato, 17 A Ceccato, 18 M Filippucci, 19 M Barbieri, 20 S Orlando, 21 A Marcato, 22 A Lucchese
