Leicester v Saints: Teams

Aaron Mauger will return to the Leicester Tigers line-up for their Premiership derby against Northampton Saints at Welford Road.

The All Blacks centre slots into an otherwise unchanged backline from the starting line-up at London Irish last weekend to take the place of Dan Hipkiss, who is on England duty.

Richard Blaze partners Ben Kay at lock, while Mefin Davies makes a return from injury to complete an all-international front row alongside Marcos Ayerza and Martin Castrogiovanni.

Geoff Parling joins Ben Pienaar and Brett Deacon as he moves into the back row.

Good news

"We got a couple of guys back from England training and having Aaron Mauger back is very good news," said head coach Richard Cockerill.

"Both teams are up there in the table and this is a big game because you want to go into the two-week break from the Guinness Premiership in a decent position to push on again when we come back.

"It's a local derby in front of a big crowd and it is going to be a big day for the club."

Meanwhile, flanker Phil Dowson will captain Northampton in the absence of England hooker Dylan Hartley.

Hartley is one of a quartet of Saints players who have been called-up for the England autumn series.

Ben Foden was initially named at full-back but he has not been released by England, so Bruce Reihana will move back from the wing with Paul Diggin taking the No 11 shirt.

Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder insists that the rest of the squad have been focused on the game ahead rather than the absent players.

"Northampton against Leicester is always a big game, no matter who is pulling on the shirts," said Mallinder.

"You have to have a good attitude going into a derby match and our players have been training well this week.

"There is no point thinking about who isn't going to be playing.

"All we have been thinking about is who is going to be representing the club on Saturday evening and we're looking forward to another match in front of a big crowd."

Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Lucas Amorosino, 13 Anthony Allen, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 James Grindal, 1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Mefin Davies, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 4 Richard Blaze, 5 Ben Kay, 6 Geoff Parling, 7 Ben Pienaar, 8 Brett Deacon.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Boris Stankovich, 19 Calum Green, 20 Dan Hemingway, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Andy Forsyth, 23 Will Hurrell.

Northampton: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Regardt Dreyer, 2 Brett Sharman, 3 Soane Tonga'uiha, 4 James Cannon, 5 Christian Day, 6 Phil Dowson, 7 Neil Best, 8 Roger Wilson.
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Jon Vickers, 19 Mark Easter, 20 Scott Gray, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Barry Everitt, 23 Joe Ansbro.