Leicester v Worcester: Teams

Hooker Joe Duffey will make his Guinness Premiership debut as Leicester welcome Worcester to Welford Road.

Duffey arrived at the Tigers from Nottingham in the off-season and he gets the nod ahead of Mefin Davies for the No.2 shirt.

"Joe Duffey has been with us since the summer and he has got used to how we work," said head coach Richard Cockerill.

"Now he has his chance in the team and there is no better place than Welford Road to make an impact."

Cockerill also brings Boris Stankovich and England internationals Tom Croft and Dan Hipkiss into the line-up, with club captain Geordan Murphy, lock Richard Blaze and centre Aaron Mauger ruled out.

George Chuter, Ben Woods and Harry Ellis are the latest to suffer injury and join the growing list of unavailable players.

First start

Meanwhile, former New Zealand international Rico Gear will make his first start of the season for Warriors at Welford Road.

The All Blacks ace will replace injured Marcel Garvey on the wing as part of the trio of changes director of rugby Mike Ruddock has made to his starting line-up.

Summer signing prop Adam Black and hooker Chris Fortey start with Matt Mullan and Aleki Lutui on the bench.

Ruddock has also welcomed back Samoan centre Dale Rasmussen after he recovered from knee injury - and he hopes the altered line-up can help Warriors tackle a team that has impressed him in the season so far.

"I was very impressed with the Leicester game last week, they looked very strong," Ruddock said.

"Tigers have a few guys out injured, but even so have such strength in depth. They will be a tough team to breakdown, however that is what we have to do and we are confident we can give it our best shot."

Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Matt Smith, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 James Grindal, 1 Boris Stankovich, 2 Joe Duffey, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 4 Louis Deacon, 5 Ben Kay, 6 Tom Croft, 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Jordan Crane.
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Julian White, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Craig Newby, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Lucas Amorosino.

Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Willie Walker, 9 Ryan Powell, 1 Adam Black

2 Chris Fortey, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 4 Greg Rawlinson, 5 Craig Gillies, 6 Tom Wood, 7 Pat Sanderson, 8 Netani Talei.
Replacements: 16 Matt Mullan, 17 Aleki Lutui, 18 Shaun Ruwers, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Dale Rasmussen.