Leicester v Sale: Teams

England centre Dan Hipkiss returns to the Leceister starting line-up for Saturday's vital Guinness Premiership clash with Sale Sharks at Welford Road.

Hipkiss was an unused replacement in last weekend's defeat to London Irish, with a groin strain previously keeping him out of the squad since the Heineken Cup match at Edinburgh on January 12.

The 25-year-old former Academy player starts at outside centre, with Ayoola Erinle moving to the wing.

Sam Vesty and Ollie Smith complete the back three, with Aaron Mauger partnering Hipkiss in the centres and Frank Murphy and Andy Goode named at half-back.

Club captain Martin Corry switches to the second row where he is joined by England lock Louis Decaon who has missed both of Tigers' last two Premiership fixtures.

With Martin Castrogiovanni on Six Nations duty, Alex Moreno comes into the side at tighthead prop. As league regulations for an international weekend mean sides can field two foreign players, both Ben Herring and Marcos Ayerza are also included in the starting XV.

"We know that we need to improve on our last performance and we are looking forward to that challenge," said Tigers head coach Marcelo Loffreda.

"Sale are a very good side who have been in good form recently.

"They will come into the game with a lot of confidence. They have been playing well, getting good results, and we will find them a very tough team, but we are also going to be in good shape.

"We were very disappointed to lose last weekend but we have to put that behind us and try and make up for that on Saturday."

Leceister team: 15 Sam Vesty, 14 Ayoola Erinle, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Oollie Smith, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Frank Murphy, 1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 George Chuter, 3 Alex Moren, 4 Martin Corry (capt), 5 Louis Deacon, 6 Brett Deacon, 7 Ben Herring, 8 Jordan Crane

Replacements: 16 Ben Kayser, 17 Dave Young, 18 Gregor Gillanders, 19 Ben Pienaar, 20 Christophe Laussucq, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Johne Murphy

Sale Sharks team: 15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Luke McAlister, 12 Chris Bell, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Sililo Martens, 1 Eifion Roberts, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 3 Stuart Turner, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe (capt), 6 Sean Cox, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 8 Sebastien Chabal

Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Ben Evans, 18 Dean Schofield, 19 Chris Jones, 20 Will Cliff, 21 Elvis Seveali'I, 22 Lee Thomas