Leicester v Newcastle: Teams
A capacity crowd is expected at Welford Road on Saturday when injury-hit Leicester host draw specialists Newcastle.
Last Updated: 18/09/09 2:18pm
Leicester will be hoping there's no place like home on Saturday when they face Newcastle arrive in their first game of the season at Welford Road.
A capacity crowd of 24,000 is expected as the new Caterpillar Stand is opened for the first time.
The Tigers registered their first win of the new campaign last weekend when Jeremy Staunton's boot kicked them to a 15-12 result at Harlequins.
Head coach Richard Cockerill has decided to retain the same back line that started at the Twickenham Stoop.
Four changes
However there are four changes in Leicester's pack, with Richard Blaze, George Chuter, Jordan Crane and Ben Woods all missing through injury.
Mefin Davies takes over at hooker while Ben Kay comes into the XV to partner Louis Deacon in the second row.
There are also starts for Craig Newby and Brett Deacon, while Argentina full-back Lucas Amorosino is named amongst the replacements.
"It is great to get back to Welford Road after starting the season with two tough away games," said Cockerill.
"We won only five league games away from home last year and we have one to our credit already. Now we need to build on that."
Newcastle will be hoping to spoil the Tigers' big day and register their first victory of the campaign in the process.
The Falcons began with a 9-9 draw against Guinness Premiership newcomers Leeds and then picked up another two points last time out with a 16-16 result at home to Sale.
Tane Tu'ipulotu missed the opening two rounds of the campaign with a neck injury but is fit to feature in Newcastle's midfield alongside Rob Vickerman.
Hall Charlton starts at scrum-half as an elbow injury sidelines Micky Young, while Mark Sorenson takes over from Tim Swinson in the second row.
Gopperth test
Jimmy Gopperth has been selected to start at fly-half but will undergo a late fitness to see if he's fully recovered from an ankle injury.
"They've started with a narrow loss and a narrow win, neither of which was exactly flowing rugby, and they have a few injury concerns as well," coach Steve Bates said of opponents Leicester.
"It's a big day for them with opening the new stand there, and perhaps all of those things add up to put them under a little bit of pressure.
"We see this as a great opportunity to go and take them on at Welford Road, and we're going down there very much with that mindset."
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (capt), 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Scott Hamilton, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Craig Newby, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Joe Duffey, 17 Julian White, 18 Robbie Harris, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Ben Pienaar, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Aaron Mauger, 23 Lucas Amorosino.
Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Gcobani Bobo, 13 Rob Vickerman, 12 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Hall Charlton, 8 Filipo Levi, 7 Ed Williamson, 6 Brent Wilson, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 James Hudson, 3 Carl Hayman (capt), 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Jon Golding.
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Micky Ward, 18 Laurence Ovens, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Adam Balding, 21 Chris Pilgrim, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Charlie Amesbury.