Geoff Parling will start his first game for Leicester Tigers in Saturday's Heineken Cup match against Viadana in Italy.
The former Newcastle Falcons lock has made four appearances from the replacements bench since his move to the East Midlands this summer, but he wears the No5 shirt this weekend, lining up alongside skipper Louis Deacon in the second row.
The only other changes from the line-up that started last weekend’s draw with the Ospreys are in the front row where Boris Stankovich and Martin Castrogiovanni come in to start at prop, with Marcos Ayerza and Julian White reverting to the replacements’ bench.
Head coach Richard Cockerill retains the same backline that started the 32-32 draw with the Ospreys in Round One, with Billy Twelvetrees retaining his place alongside Anthony Allen in midfield after his late call-up last week.
Matt Smith, who sat out the Ospreys game with injury, returns to take his place among the replacements. Richard Blaze also returns to the 23-man squad.
Toby Flood, Sam Vesty, Dan Cole and Alesana Tuilagi are making progress on their way back from long-term injury. Tigers are also without Mefin Davies, Harry Ellis, Aaron Mauger, Geordan Murphy, Craig Newby and Ben Woods due to injury, and Dan Hipkiss through illness.
Saturday’s match is to be covered live by Sky Sports interactive and will be shown on the big screen in the Tiger Bar at Welford Road. Kick-off is at 2.30pm local time, that’s 1.30pm in the UK.
Leicester Tigers (v Viadana, Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Saturday 2.30pm local time)
15 Scott Hamilton
14 Johne Murphy
13 Anthony Allen
12 Billy Twelvetrees
11 Lucas Amorosino
10 Jeremy Staunton
9 James Grindal
1 Boris Stankovich
2 George Chuter
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Louis Deacon (c)
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Croft
7 Lewis Moody
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
The former Newcastle Falcons lock has made four appearances from the replacements bench since his move to the East Midlands this summer, but he wears the No5 shirt this weekend, lining up alongside skipper Louis Deacon in the second row.
The only other changes from the line-up that started last weekend’s draw with the Ospreys are in the front row where Boris Stankovich and Martin Castrogiovanni come in to start at prop, with Marcos Ayerza and Julian White reverting to the replacements’ bench.
Head coach Richard Cockerill retains the same backline that started the 32-32 draw with the Ospreys in Round One, with Billy Twelvetrees retaining his place alongside Anthony Allen in midfield after his late call-up last week.
Matt Smith, who sat out the Ospreys game with injury, returns to take his place among the replacements. Richard Blaze also returns to the 23-man squad.
Toby Flood, Sam Vesty, Dan Cole and Alesana Tuilagi are making progress on their way back from long-term injury. Tigers are also without Mefin Davies, Harry Ellis, Aaron Mauger, Geordan Murphy, Craig Newby and Ben Woods due to injury, and Dan Hipkiss through illness.
Saturday’s match is to be covered live by Sky Sports interactive and will be shown on the big screen in the Tiger Bar at Welford Road. Kick-off is at 2.30pm local time, that’s 1.30pm in the UK.
Leicester Tigers (v Viadana, Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Saturday 2.30pm local time)
15 Scott Hamilton
14 Johne Murphy
13 Anthony Allen
12 Billy Twelvetrees
11 Lucas Amorosino
10 Jeremy Staunton
9 James Grindal
1 Boris Stankovich
2 George Chuter
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Louis Deacon (c)
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Croft
7 Lewis Moody
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Joe Duffey
17 Julian White
18 Marcos Ayerza
19 Richard Blaze
20 Brett Deacon
21 Ben Youngs
22 Matt Smith
23 Tom Youngs
Viadana: 15 Garry Law, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Matthew Harvey, 12 Sam Cox, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Pierre Hola, 9 Pablo Canavosio, 1 Miguel Alonso, 2 Roberto Santamaria, 3 Ignacio Elosu, 4 Sean Hohneck, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 6 Andrea Benatti, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Gavin Quinnell
Replacements: 16 Luigi Milani, 17 Luigi Ferraro, 18 Julio Garcia, 19 Carlo del Fava, 20 Aldo Birchall, 21 Josh Sole, 22 Andrea Brancoli, 23 Mark Woodrow
