Saracens v Leicester Tigers: Aviva Premiership preview
Last Updated: 10/04/15 2:44pm
Brad Barritt makes his return from an ankle injury in Saracens’ Aviva Premiership clash with top-four rivals Leicester Tigers on Saturday.
The England international has been sidelined for five weeks and is named at outside centre for the Allianz Park contest.
Barritt partners Champions Cup hero Marcelo Bosch in midfield with Chris Wyles moving to the wing, while Charlie Hodgson and Richard Wigglesworth are retained at half-back.
With Jacques Burges suspended, Kelly Brown starts at openside flanker, while captain Alistair Hargreaves is named in the second row.
Sarries are on a six-game winning streak which has them well placed for a home semi-final, but Leicester are also in fine form and travel to north London seeking a sixth straight Premiership victory.
Richard Cockerill makes two changes to the team that defeated Exeter in round 18, with Niall Morris and Vereniki Goneva named on the wing in place of the injured Miles Benjamin and Adam Thompstone, who is among the replacements.
Graham Kitchener is also on the bench after recovering from a foot injury, where he joins internationals Leonardo Ghiraldini, Michele Rizzo and Logovi'i Mulipola.
"This is a really big game for both teams with just four rounds of fixtures left in the season,” said Cockerill, Leicester’s director of rugby.
"It is a tough place to go and Saracens are a consistently good team who come into this weekend on the back of a European Cup quarter-final win.
"But we've come into some form and we want to maintain that through to the end of the season and see where that takes us.”
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 4 George Kruis, 5 Alistair Hargreaves (c), 6 Jackson Wray, 7 Kelly Brown, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 James Johnston, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Ernst Joubert, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 David Strettle.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs (c); 1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Sebastian De Chaves, 5 Geoff Parling, 6 Jamie Gibson, 7 Julian Salvi, 8 Jordan Crane.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Laurence Pearce, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Tommy Bell, 23 Adam Thompstone.
