Dom Barrow and Dominic Ryan return to the Leicester Tigers forward pack for Saturday’s Aviva Premiership Round 4 trip to face Harlequins at The Twickenham Stoop.
Barrow missed the win over Gloucester in Round 3 but replaces Joe Maksymiw as partner for Harry Wells in the second row. Ryan replaces Luke Hamilton in the back row.
Head coach Matt O’Connor retains the same backline that started in Round 3.
O’Connor said: “We were pretty disappointed about the performance in the final 60 minutes against Gloucester last week. We started with the intensity we’ve tried to get all season but after that we let ourselves down.
“Dom Barrow is fit to return this week but Graham Kitchener unfortunately is going to have surgery on a cracked eye-socket which will keep him out for a couple of weeks.
“Quins have dangerous players and a lot of experienced players who have been at the club a long time and are big-game players. They’re very hard to beat at The Stoop and we’ll have to be at the very top end of our game to get the points there.”
Tom Brady is back in full training after an ankle injury, and George McGuigan and Adam Thompstone are also working their work back from injury. Manu Tuilagi is sidelined after damaging the meniscus in his left knee during the Round 1 match against Bath.
Leicester Tiger (v Harlequins, away, Saturday 3.00pm)
15 Telusa Veainu
14 Nick Malouf
13 Matt Smith
12 Matt Toomua
11 Jonny May
10 George Ford
1 Ellis Genge
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Dan Cole
4 Harry Wells
5 Dom Barrow
7 Dominic Ryan
8 Sione Kalamafoni
Replacements
16 Harry Thacker
17 Greg Bateman
18 Logovi’i Mulipola
19 Luke Hamilton
20 Valentino Mapapalangi
21 Sam Harrison
22 Joe Ford
23 Mathew Tait
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care; 1 Mark Lambert, 2 Rob Buchanan, 3 Will Collier, 4 George Merrick, 5 James Horwill (c), 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Jack Clifford, 8 Mat Luamanu
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Ben Glynn, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Alofa Alofa
