Aaron Mauger returns to captain Leicester Tigers in their opening home game of the Guinness Premiership season, against London Irish at Welford Road on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

The All Blacks international centre missed the win at Gloucester last Sunday but resumes his place, with Matt Smith moving to the wing following injury to Alesana Tuilagi.

The rest of the backline is unchanged, with Toby Flood making his first league appearance at Welford Road since his summer move to Leicester.

New head coach Heyneke Meyer, who will experience a Welford Road matchday for the first time, retains the same forward pack that started the opening-day win at Gloucester.

Johne Murphy is named among the replacements after coming through Wednesday’s Guinness A league victory against Saracens on his return from a knee injury.

Tuilagi is joined on the sidelines by Martin Corry, Derick Hougaard, Martin Castrogiovanni, Lewis Moody and Louis Deacon, while Seru Rabeni is suspended.

Tickets for the match are still available from the Tigers ticket office, contact 08701 28 34 30, call at Welford Road or book online at http://www.leicestertigers.com/

Leicester Tigers (versus London Irish, Welford Road, Saturday 3pm)
15 Geordan Murphy
14 Tom Varndell
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Aaron Mauger (c)
11 Matt Smith
10 Toby Flood
9 Harry Ellis
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Julian White
4 Richard Blaze
5 Ben Kay
6 Tom Croft
7 Ben Herring
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Benjamin Kayser
17 Dan Cole
18 Marco Wentzel
19 Ben Woods
20 Julien Dupuy
21 Sam Vesty
22 Johne Murphy