Worcester v Leicester: Teams
Martin Corry will make his first Guinness Premiership appearance of the season when he captains Leicester at Worcester.
Last Updated: 19/09/08 1:55pm
Martin Corry will make his first Guinness Premiership appearance of the season when he captains Leicester Tigers at Worcester Warriors on Saturday.
He has been named in the second row by head coach Heyneke Meyer as Leicester Tigers look to build on wins in their opening two matches.
Corry takes the place of Richard Blaze, who suffered a knee injury in the win over London Irish at Welford Road last Saturday.
The only other change in the forwards is at hooker where Benjamin Kayser starts and George Chuter moves to the replacements' bench.
Scrum-half Julin Dupuy makes his first start for the club at scrum-half as Harry Ellis sits out. Matt Smith moves to centre after Dan Hipkiss was ruled out after taking a knock against London Irish.
"We have won two games but we still need to improve in a lot of areas," said Meyer.
Rabeni banned
"Worcester had a good win over Wasps last weekend and we are expecting a very tough, physical encounter."
Martin Castrogiovanni, Louis Deacon, Lewis Moody, Alesana Tuilagi and Derick Hougaard are unavailable due to injury while Seru Rabeni is suspended.
Meanwhile, Warriors centre Dale Rasmussen will celebrate his 100th appearance for Worcester on Saturday.
Rasmussen will bring up his ton after being handed the outside centre spot for Warriors alongside Sam Tuitupou.
Director of rugby Mike Ruddock makes just one change to the starting line-up that defeated champions London Wasps last weekend.
Loki Crichton, who landed the crucial last second penalty to secure victory at Adams Park, will start at fly-half with Matthew Jones on the replacements bench.
Milestone
Pat Sanderson (quad), Rico Gear (Achillies), Marcel Garvey (hip), Joe Carlisle (ankle) and Hal Luscombe (knee) are ruled out through injury.
Sixways Stadium will host its first game with the new £8million Slick Systems Stand open and a record crowd will watch Warriors in home league action for the first time this season.
Ruddock admitted it will be a special day for the club and also vice-captain Rasmussen who brings up a special milestone in his career.
"Dale always leads by example on and off the field and is a top professional," said Ruddock.
"He reminds me in many ways of Superman and Clark Kent in that he is gentle and mild-mannered off the field but is suddenly transformed into a superhero type figure on the pitch who is afraid of nothing and always meets challenges head on."
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Chris Pennell, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Loki Crichton, 9 Ryan Powell, 8 Netani Talei, 7 James Collins, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Will Bowley, 4 Greg Rawlinson (c), 3 Chris Horsman, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Tevita Taumoepeau, 17 Chris Fortey, 18 Craig Gillies, 19 Kai Horstmann, 20 Ben Jones, 21 Matthew Jones, 22 Charlie Fellows.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Herring, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Martin Corry (c), 3 Julian White, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Marcos Ayerza,
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Marco Wentzel, 19 Ben Woods, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Tom Youngs, 22 Ayoola Erinle.