Leicester v Exeter: Teams

Boris Stankovich and Dan Cole return to the Leicester Tigers front row for Saturday's opening home game of the Aviva Premiership season against Exeter Chiefs.

The only other change to the line-up which started last weekend's defeat at Northampton Saints is the inclusion of Jeremy Staunton at fly-half in place of the injured Toby Flood.

Geordan Murphy, who made his 250th start for the club at Franklin's Gardens on Sunday, leads out the team on their homecoming, while summer signings George Skivington and Thomas Waldrom start their first league game at Welford Road.

International flanker Tom Croft returns from injury to take his place among the replacements.

"We played some good rugby at times last weekend but there were too many penalties and too many turnovers," said Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill.

Memorable

"We scored three good tries and we were still in there fighting right at the end, despite conceding two tries so early on.

"But now we have to look to bounce back and get our first points on the board as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile, whilst many inside Sandy Park last Saturday afternoon toasted a memorable opening day win for Exeter, head coach Rob Baxter preferred to take a more realistic approach to it all.

Having just seen his side claim the scalp of Gloucester 22-10 in their first-ever top-flight fixture, Baxter momentarily rejoiced the moment with his players and staff, but then quickly turned his attentions to the next task in hand.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's encounter, Baxter said: "We didn't have to bring anyone down to earth - I think we dealt with it on Saturday very well.

"I'm happy for us to be an emotional team and to show how much we wanted to win, that was fantastic. Literally by the time we were back in the changing room the guys were cooling down. They're not stupid, they realise it's about 22 games and not one."

Whilst Baxter will stick with an unchanged starting line-up for Saturday's clash, he has been forced to make a change on the bench where Samoan international Garrick Cowley is out with a shoulder injury.

And his absence means an instant role for new signing James Honeyben, who has signed a short-term loan deal with the club from National League One side Blackheath.

Leicester Tigers:15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Ben Woods, 6 Craig Newby, 5 George Skivington , 4 Calum Green, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Boris Stankovich.
Replacements: 16 Joe Duffey, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Marcos Ayerza, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Tom Croft, 21 James Grindal, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Manu Tuilagi.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Nic Sestaret, 13 Phil Dollman, 12 Bryan Rennie, 11 Mark Foster, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 James Phillips, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 James Hanks, 4 Tom Hayes (c), 3 Hoani Tui, 2 Neil Clark 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Simon Alcott, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Chris Budgen, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Chad Slade, 21 James Honeyben, 22 Ryan Davis, 23 Matt Jess.