News
Preview: Leicester v Northampton
September 30 2008
England internationals Harry Ellis and Dan Hipkiss return from injury to start for Leicester Tigers in Wednesday's Guinness Premiership fixture against local rivals Northampton at Welford Road.
The duo missed the trip to Worcester and last Friday's defeat to London Wasps, but they have been named in the starting XV by Head Coach Heyneke Meyer for the first East Midlands derby since the 2006/07 season and Tigers' second home game in five days.
Matt Smith, who has started every game of the season so far, moves to the wing as Hipkiss comes in at centre, while Ellis takes over from Julien Dupuy at the base.
Elsewhere, loosehead prop Boris Stankovich makes his first senior appearance of the season alongside Benjamin Kayser and the recalled Julian White in the front row, while Ben Herring returns at openside flanker after starting among the replacements last week.
Meanwhile, new-boys Northampton face their second away match in as many rounds after defeat to Saracens last weekend.
And Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder has subsequently made five changes to the squad that played in Watford.
Ben Foden makes his first start at scrum-half and Chris Mayor comes in at inside centre. Another centre, England Saxon Nils Mordt, could make his first team debut should he be sent on as a replacement.
"It is another big game for us. Welford Road is always a challenging place to go," he said.
"Leicester will be fuming from losing at the weekend and will be going all out for the win.
"They have made an excellent start to the season, regardless of Friday's result, and have quality players throughout their team, not to mention a world class coach in Heyneke Meyer."
Form: Leicester suffered a first defeat of the season at the hands of London Wasps on Friday. The only previous occasion that the Tigers have succumbed to back-to-back league defeats at Welford Road was in October 2003 when they lost to Sale and Wednesday's opponents, Northampton. Saints' only two defeats this season have both come away from home at Newcastle and Saracens. The Saints' last away win in the Guinness Premiership was 10-9 against Leicester at Welford Road on 24 February 2007. Northampton have won their last two games against Leicester in all competitions.
The teams:
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Matt Smith, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Herring, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 Martin Corry (c), 3 Julian White, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Boris Stankovich.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Ben Woods, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Tom Youngs, 22 Tom Varndell.
Northampton: 15 Stephen Myler, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Chris Mayor, 11 Bruce Reihana (c), 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 Ben Foden, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Scott Gray, 6 Mark Hopley, 5 Christian Day, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tom Smith.
Replacements: 16 Paul Shields, 17 Soane Tonga'uiha, 18 Alex Rae, 19 Ben Lewitt, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Nils Mordt, 22 Sean Lamont.
Date: Wednesday 1 October, 2008
Kick-off: 19:45 (18:45 GMT)
Venue: Welford Road
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Alan Hughes, Don Helme
Assessor: Brian Leigh
Television match official: Trevor Parlett