All Blacks centre Mauger claims his place in a backline which is otherwise unchanged from the starting XV at London Irish last weekend. He takes the place of Dan Hipkiss who is on England duty.

Mefin Davies returns from injury to complete an all-international front row with Marcos Ayerza and Martin Castrogiovanni, while Richard Blaze partners Ben Kay at lock. Geoff Parling moves into the back row, alongside Ben Pienaar and Brett Deacon.

England Under-20 international wing Will Hurrell is added to a Guinness Premiership matchday squad for the first time.

"We got a couple of guys back from England training and having Aaron Mauger back is very good news," said Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill.

"Both teams are up there in the table and this is a big game because you want to go into the two-week break from the Guinness Premiership in a decent position to push on again when we come back.

"It's a local derby in front of a big crowd and it is going to be a big day for the club."

Tigers are without six England players ahead of the autumn internationals and Billy Twelvetrees has been ruled out by injury this week.

Welford Road stages a Tigers double header on Saturday with the Saints clash followed at 7.45pm by a game between the Tigers Academy and British Army Development XV.

A Help For Heroes day at Welford Road will feature a military marching band before each game, and Help For Heroes wristbands will be on sale.

Tickets are still available - book now and see two big games for the price of one. Call the Tigers ticket hotline on 0844 856 1880 or book online at www.leicestertigers.com

Leicester Tigers (v Northampton Saints, Welford Road, Saturday 5.35pm)
15 Scott Hamilton
14 Lucas Amorosino
13 Anthony Allen
12 Aaron Mauger (c)
11 Johne Murphy
10 Jeremy Staunton
9 James Grindal
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Mefin Davies
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Richard Blaze
5 Ben Kay
6 Geoff Parling
7 Ben Pienaar
8 Brett Deacon

Replacements
16 Tom Youngs
17 Dan Cole
18 Boris Stankovich
19 Calum Green
20 Dan Hemingway
21 Ben Youngs
22 Andy Forsyth
23 Will Hurrell