Tigers coach Pat Howard has made four changes to his team ahead of Sunday's Heineken Cup opener against Munster at Welford Road.
Following the win over Northampton Saints in the Guinness Premiership last weekend, head coach Howard welcomes back Daryl Gibson, Martin Castrogiovanni, Tom Varndell and Paul Burke to his starting XV.
Harry Ellis and Seru Rabeni are also named on the bench on their comeback from injury.
Gibson sat out the win over Saints due to the one-foreigner rule in domestic league rugby, but two overseas players are permitted in the Heineken Cup.
Varndell returns after a short loan spell with Bedford and following his recovery from a knee injury.
Burke gets the nod at fly-half against his former club and prop Castrogiovanni regains his place after two weeks away with the Italian national squad for the World Cup qualifying wins over Portugal and Russia.
On the decision to go for Varndell and Burke, Howard said: "It is very tough on Johne Murphy, who has had three good games for us in the last few weeks, but Tom has recovered from a slight knee injury and at his best he offers good finishing power.
"Burkey has had three solid games. The competition is very tough at number 10 but he has won through for this game."
And Howard is also delighted to have England scrum-half Ellis and Fiji's Rabeni back in the frame after injury.
"It is tough on other guys but it is a competitive squad and it is great to have them back," he said. "When we put the side to the guys, there were obviously a lot of very disappointed players and a lot of very happy ones as well. For the Irish lads, it's obviously got an added bit of spice. I understand the elation or disappointment of those players and it's something we as coaches and the lads as players have to deal with."
Following the win over Northampton Saints in the Guinness Premiership last weekend, head coach Howard welcomes back Daryl Gibson, Martin Castrogiovanni, Tom Varndell and Paul Burke to his starting XV.
Harry Ellis and Seru Rabeni are also named on the bench on their comeback from injury.
Gibson sat out the win over Saints due to the one-foreigner rule in domestic league rugby, but two overseas players are permitted in the Heineken Cup.
Varndell returns after a short loan spell with Bedford and following his recovery from a knee injury.
Burke gets the nod at fly-half against his former club and prop Castrogiovanni regains his place after two weeks away with the Italian national squad for the World Cup qualifying wins over Portugal and Russia.
On the decision to go for Varndell and Burke, Howard said: "It is very tough on Johne Murphy, who has had three good games for us in the last few weeks, but Tom has recovered from a slight knee injury and at his best he offers good finishing power.
"Burkey has had three solid games. The competition is very tough at number 10 but he has won through for this game."
And Howard is also delighted to have England scrum-half Ellis and Fiji's Rabeni back in the frame after injury.
"It is tough on other guys but it is a competitive squad and it is great to have them back," he said. "When we put the side to the guys, there were obviously a lot of very disappointed players and a lot of very happy ones as well. For the Irish lads, it's obviously got an added bit of spice. I understand the elation or disappointment of those players and it's something we as coaches and the lads as players have to deal with."
Leicester Tigers
15 Sam Vesty
14 Geordan Murphy
13 Ollie Smith
12 Daryl Gibson
11 Tom Varndell
10 Paul Burke
9 Scott Bemand
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Leo Cullen
5 Ben Kay
6 Louis Deacon
7 Lewis Moody
8 Martin Corry (c)
Replacements
16 James Buckland
17 Julian White
18 Jordan Crane
19 Shane Jennings
20 Harry Ellis
21 Andy Goode
22 Seru Rabeni
