Borthwick recalls his England big hitters
STRONG LINE-UP TO FACE BATH
HEAD coach Steve Borthwick has made eight changes to his Leicester Tigers side to face Bath tomorrow afternoon (3pm).
All four of the Leicester players in England’s Six Nations squad start at The Rec, with George Ford and Ben Youngs together at half-back, while Ellis Genge and George Martin pack down at loosehead prop and blindside flanker respectively.
Tom Youngs returns to captain the side from hooker and is joined by his fellow Tigers 200 club member Dan Cole in the front row.
Harry Wells maintains his sequence of being named in every Tigers squad so far this season, but is partnered by Calum Green, who missed the European Challenge Cup wins over Newcastle and Connacht.
The biggest surprise for Tigers is that Hanro Liebenberg misses out on the 23-man squad, with Tommy Reffell and Wiese completing the back row with Martin.
Matt Scott moves to the bench after starting both European games, as Dan Kelly returns to partner Matias Moroni, who makes his fourth consecutive start after scoring in both of his last two games.
There’s plenty of experience on the bench in the form of Richard Wigglesworth, Luke Wallace and Tomas Lavanini.
Ahead of the game, Tigers sit just a point and a place above tomorrow’s opponents. “Bath is a well-resourced club who have invested heavily in this squad and their rugby programme,” said the Tigers boss.
“They are a well-coached side, led by an experienced coaching team and boast internationals throughout their squad.
“This is a Bath team high on confidence, who are bringing very good form into Sunday’s fixture after an impressive run of results in both the Premiership and Challenge Cup.”
LEICESTER TIGERS: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Harry Potter, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Kini Murimurivalu, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 3 Dan Cole, 4 Harry Wells, 5 Calum Green, 6 George Martin, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Jasper Wiese. Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17
Luan de Bruin, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Tomas Lavanini, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Johnny McPhillips, 23 Matt Scott.
BATH: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Josh Matavesi, 9 Ben Spencer, 1 Beno
Obano, 2 Jack Walker, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Charlie Ewels (c), 6 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 8. Zach Mercer.
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Mike Williams, 20 Miles Reid, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Alex Gray.