Teams announced for Leicester Tigers v Harlequins clash

England trio Toby Flood, Manu Tuilagi and Thomas Waldrom return to the Leicester Tigers line-up for Saturday's top-of-the-table clash with Aviva Premiership rivals Harlequins.

 

The international trio have been released from the England squad for this weekend and are recalled by Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill.

 

There is also a recall in the backline for Scott Hamilton, and Brett Deacon is named in the back-row of the pack alongside Waldrom and Julian Salvi.

 

"We've had some tough battles with Harlequins in the last couple of seasons," said Cockerill. "Results last week meant we went to the top of the table, but it means nothing at this stage. We still haven't played as well as we can and we're now into a key part of the season."

 

Martin Castrogiovanni, Niall Morris and Steve Mafi are among the players unavailable due to injury this week. Tom Croft is rested and four players remain with the England squad – Tom Youngs, Ben Youngs, Geoff Parling and Dan Cole.

 

Kick-off at The Twickenham Stoop is at 5.15pm on Saturday and the match is  live on Sky Sports ".

 

Tigers will wear their alternative Baltic Blue kit this weekend.

 

Leicester Tigers

15 Mathew Tait

14 Scott Hamilton

13 Manusamoa Tuilagi

12 Anthony Allen

11 Adam Thompstone

10 Toby Flood

9 Sam Harrison

1 Marcos Ayerza

2 Rob Hawkins

3 Logovi'i Mulipola

4 Louis Deacon (c)

5 Graham Kitchener

6 Brett Deacon

7 Julian Salvi

8 Thomas Waldrom

 

Replacements

16 George Chuter

17 Boris Stankovich

18 Fraser Balmain

19 Ed Slater

20 Jordan Crane

21 Micky Young

22 George Ford

23 Matt Smith

 

Harlequins make changes due to injury and international unavailability after last week's surprise home defeat against Wasps.

Matt Hopper moves to outside-centre and partners Jordan Turner-Hall. Danny Care returns from international duty with England to start at scrum-half.

Among the forwards, captain Nick Easter starts in the second row, with Charlie Matthews ready to impact from the bench. In the back-row Maurie Fa'asavalu starts at blindside flanker and is joined by Tom Guest and Luke Wallace.

Among the replacements, with Karl Dickson unfit for this weekend, Jordan Burns will look to make his first appearance for the club at scrum-half, while the fit again Ben Botica returns to the bench.

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Harlequins

15. Ross Chisholm

14. Tom Williams

13. Matt Hopper

12. Jordan Turner-Hall

11. Ugo Monye

10. Nick Evans

9. Danny Care

1. Mark Lambert

2. Joe Gray

3. James Johnston

4. Nick Easter (C)

5. George Robson

6. Maurie Fa'asavalu

7. Luke Wallace

8. Tom Guest

Replacements

16. Rob Buchanan

17. Darryl Marfo

18. Will Collier

19. Charlie Matthews

20. Joe Trayfoot

21. Jordan Burns

22. Ben Botica

23. George Lowe