Saracens v Leicester: Teams
Leicester welcome back Dan Cole and Logovi'i Mulipola for their Aviva Premiership showdown with Saracens at Wembley.
Last Updated: 14/09/12 7:24pm
Leicester welcome back Dan Cole and Logovi'i Mulipola to their starting XV for their Aviva Premiership showdown with Saracens at Wembley on Saturday.
Centre Mulipola will make his second start of the season as the Tigers make a first-ever trip to Wembley, while Cole comes into the front row in place of Martin Castrogiovanni, who drops to the bench.
In the only other change to the match-day squad which claimed a 34-26 win over Worcester last time out, hooker George Chuter is named among the replacements.
Director of rugby Richard Cockerill says that Leicester, who have started their season with successive bonus-point victories, are looking forward to the spectacle of playing at Wembley.
"Most of us grew up with football's cup finals at Wembley and to play there is a great experience for all the players, young or old. Hopefully it will be a good spectacle and a big crowd," Cockerill said.
"We're obviously happy to start with 10 points from two games, and we've played some good stuff which will hold us in good stead for the trail ahead.
"But we're not playing as well as we would like and against teams like Saracens and Harlequins over the next two weeks you know you'll have to be at your best."
Changes
Saracens have opted to make five changes to the side that claimed a 23-16 win over Sale last weekend, with Carlos Nieto, Jackson Wray, Neil de Kock, Owen Farrell and James Short all coming into the starting line-up.
All five players to make way - Petrus du Plessis, Will Fraser, Richard Wigglesworth, Charlie Hodgson and Chris Wyles - are named on the bench.
Full-back Alex Goode and scrum-half Wigglesworth both came through training on Thursday and will be in action on Saturday.
"In front of what will be another big crowd, there couldn't be a better stage for Saturday's game against a team with whom we have enjoyed some tough battles in the past few years," director of rugby Mark McCall.
"Wembley has become a home from home for us in recent seasons, but it's a stage on which the players really enjoy performing and after a very good week of preparation, we can't wait for kick off.
"We have been pleased with our energy and appetite for work in the opening two games of the season and we must continue that against the Tigers to get the result we want."
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Alistair Hargreaves, 20 Will Fraser, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Chris Wyles.
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Rob Andrew, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Patrick Phibbs, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.