Perpignan v Leicester: Teams

Perpignan will be desperately looking to kick-start their faltering season when they welcome Pool Five pacesetters Leicester to Stade Aime Giral.

The Top 14 powerhouses have struggled on the domestic front this year and currently languish way down in 10th place in the table.

They have also lost one of their two fixtures in this season's Heineken Cup campaign, meaning they cannot afford to fall further behind the Tigers in the battle to top the pool.

The Catalans are without injured centres Gavin Hume and Maxime Mermoz but welcome back fly-half Nicolas Laharrague and hooker Marius Tincu.

Club captain Jean-Pierre Perez starts on the bench while Rimas Alvarez-Kairelis and Manny Edmonds have been left out of the matchday squad.

In-form Tigers

In contrast to their opponents, Leicester make the trip to France in good spirits having won away at London Irish last weekend.

They are given a further boost for Saturday's game, which will be their 100th in the competition, by the return of England fly-half Toby Flood.

The former Newcastle number 10 slots in alongside scrum-half Ben Youngs in the only change from the XV that started against the Exiles.

"Like ourselves, Perpignan have a proud home record and we're expecting a big, physical battle, said Richard Cockerill, Leicester's director of rugby, on the club's official website.

"We've won our opening two games in this competition, but Perpignan could be level with us if they win this weekend, so there's everything to play for.

"We have been playing some good stuff and our defence has been good, but we know this is going to be a massive challenge.

"We had a good win at London Irish last week which helps in terms of confidence, and now we have to turn up and show how much this one means to us."

Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 David Marty, 12 Joffrey Michel, 11 Julien Candelon, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 David Mele, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Bertrand Guiry, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Gerrie Britz, 20 Henry Tuilagi, 21 Jean-Pierre Perez, 22 Florian Cazenave, 23 Farid Sid.

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Craig Newby, 6 Thomas Waldrom, 5 George Skivington, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Pete Bucknall, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Steve Mafi, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Manu Tuilagi.