Richard Blaze aims to put nine months of injury frustration behind him when he makes his Leicester Tigers return against Castres tonight.

Blaze has been named in the Tigers team for their final game of the Vaquerin Challenge, which takes place in Camares in France.

The 6ft 7in lock has been out since November with a stress fracture in his right foot.

Now, after rehabilitation and a punishing pre-season, Blaze has been named in the second row for Tigers' second game of their summer schedule.

And he is determined to reach the kind of form that has seen him win England Saxons honours. "It's awesome to be nearing fitness," he said.

"I am a little bit nervous, not so much about getting injured again but more because I want to reach the level I was at before.

"I think the enthusiasm and excitement far outweigh the nerves. I just can't wait to be on the field and earning the respect of my team-mates."

Blaze's last appearance in a Tigers shirt was in the Guinness Premiership game against Bath at the Recreation Ground in November, but he is unsure how the injury occurred.

"I don't know how I did it," he said.

"I think it first broke in a training session on the Tuesday before the game against Bath in November.

"I trained for the rest of the week and it felt like a sore foot. Then playing against Bath it gradually got worse and worse. By the 60th or 70th-odd minute I couldn't walk. The day after my ankle swelled up massively.

"I went for a scan and ended up having two big bolts put in to basically reconstruct the bone."

Blaze will face a Castres team who will be playing their final warm-up game before their Top 14 season begins next weekend.

"I think it will be a physical pack, quite direct, what you associate with a French team when you play them away.

"We have had a really good camp. It's been really hard and the boys who didn't play or weren't involved much in the first game are champing at the bit to get out there."

Head coach Richard Cockerill gives first starts of the summer to 13 of his squad, with only Billy Twelvetrees and Matt Smith starting their second game of the week.

Fly-half Jeremy Staunton is set for his first start in a Tigers shirt since he joined from Wasps. Twelvetrees, who played at fly-half against Montpelier, is at centre. He will be partnered in the midfield by Dan Hipkiss, who is set to captain the side.

Cockerill said: "It has been a really good training week. The boys have worked really hard and we have got through everything we needed to get through."

Tigers: J Murphy, Smith, Twelvetrees, Hipkiss (captain), Hamilton, Staunton, B Youngs; Stankovich, Chuter, Castrogiovanni, Blaze, Kay, B Deacon, Woods, Crane.