Club captain Murphy and wing Tuilagi missed Tuesday’s bonus-point win over Worcester at Sixways, but return for the holiday fixture against Sale.
Matt Smith, scorer of the opening try at Worcester, swaps a place on the wing for a return to centre in the absence of Manu Tuilagi who has a hamstring injury.
In the forward pack, Martin Castrogiovanni and Dan Cole team up in the front row with Rob Hawkins starting at hooker. Graham Kitchener joins Ed Slater to form the lock pairing after injury to Louis Deacon and George Skivington. Steve Mafi and Julian Salvi return to the back row alongside Thomas Waldrom.
Samoan prop Logoviii Mulipola is named among the replacements for the first time. The 24-year-old went to this year’s Rugby World Cup and has played in the Aviva Premiership ‘A’ League for Tigers this season.
“We’ve had a very short turnaround from Tuesday so we’re managing all of the squad through this period,” said Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill.
“This is a very important game for us, especially with another home game to follow against Wasps next weekend.
“Sale have had a good start to the season, they are above us in the table and Steve Diamond has done a good job in a very short period of time there.”
Tickets for Sunday’s game are still available from the Tigers ticket office. Phone 0844 856 1880, call in at Welford Road (open 8.30am-5pm Friday, 9am-5pm Saturday and from 9am on Sunday). Or book online any time by clicking here.
Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Sunday 3.30pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Matt Smith
12 Billy Twelvetrees
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Ben Youngs
1 Martin Castrogiovanni
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Dan Cole
4 Ed Slater
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Steve Mafi
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Logoviii Mulipola
19 Ben Woods
20 Tom Croft
21 Micky Young
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Scott Hamilton
Sale Sharks: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou (c), 11 Joaquin Tuculet, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Dwayne Peel; 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Tony Buckley, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 6 James Gaskell, 7 David Seymour, 8 Andy Powell. Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Vadim Cobilas, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Andrew Higgins, 23 Will Addison
