Ireland international Geordan Murphy will captain Leicester Tigers for the first time in Saturday's home game against Sale Sharks in the Guinness Premiership.
Full-back Murphy, who is approaching 250 appearances for the club since making his debut in 1997, is given the captaincy after Martin Corry and Aaron Mauger were ruled out by injury.
Dan Hipkiss returns at centre after his recovery from injury and he is joined in midfield by Sam Vesty in Mauger’s absence.
In the only other changes to the team that started at Newcastle Falcons last Friday, Marcos Ayerza and Julian White return to the front row and Ben Pienaar takes over from Corry at the base of the scrum.
Julien Dupuy is named among the replacements after sitting out the defeat at Newcastle which followed five successive wins in the Guinness Premiership.
Acting head coach Richard Cockerill said: “We didn’t play the way we would have liked at Newcastle last week and we know we can do a lot better than that.
“We have three tough fixtures left and we have to get as much as we can out of them to keep the pressure on the teams around us.”
As well as Corry and Mauger, Tigers are without Richard Blaze (foot), Jordan Crane (knee), Brett Deacon (foot), Ben Herring (head), Benjamin Kayser (neck), Lewis Moody (ankle), Craig Newby (hamstring), Matt Smith (ankle), Boris Stankovich (head) and Marco Wentzel (knee) due to injury.
Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Saturday 5pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (captain)
14 Scott Hamilton
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Sam Vesty
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Harry Ellis
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Julian White
4 Louis Deacon
5 Ben Kay
6 Tom Croft
7 Ben Woods
8 Ben Pienaar
Replacements
16 Mefin Davies
17 Martin Castrogiovanni
18 Calum Green
19 Dan Hemingway
20 Julien Dupuy
21 Ayoola Erinle
22 Johne Murphy
Full-back Murphy, who is approaching 250 appearances for the club since making his debut in 1997, is given the captaincy after Martin Corry and Aaron Mauger were ruled out by injury.
Dan Hipkiss returns at centre after his recovery from injury and he is joined in midfield by Sam Vesty in Mauger’s absence.
In the only other changes to the team that started at Newcastle Falcons last Friday, Marcos Ayerza and Julian White return to the front row and Ben Pienaar takes over from Corry at the base of the scrum.
Julien Dupuy is named among the replacements after sitting out the defeat at Newcastle which followed five successive wins in the Guinness Premiership.
Acting head coach Richard Cockerill said: “We didn’t play the way we would have liked at Newcastle last week and we know we can do a lot better than that.
“We have three tough fixtures left and we have to get as much as we can out of them to keep the pressure on the teams around us.”
As well as Corry and Mauger, Tigers are without Richard Blaze (foot), Jordan Crane (knee), Brett Deacon (foot), Ben Herring (head), Benjamin Kayser (neck), Lewis Moody (ankle), Craig Newby (hamstring), Matt Smith (ankle), Boris Stankovich (head) and Marco Wentzel (knee) due to injury.
Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Saturday 5pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (captain)
14 Scott Hamilton
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Sam Vesty
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Toby Flood
9 Harry Ellis
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Julian White
4 Louis Deacon
5 Ben Kay
6 Tom Croft
7 Ben Woods
8 Ben Pienaar
Replacements
16 Mefin Davies
17 Martin Castrogiovanni
18 Calum Green
19 Dan Hemingway
20 Julien Dupuy
21 Ayoola Erinle
22 Johne Murphy
