Leicester Tigers v Benetton Treviso: Champions Cup preview
By Tony Tighe
Last Updated: 19/01/16 10:12am
Manu Tuilagi will make his first start in 15 months when Leicester Tigers host Benetton Treviso in the Champions Cup on Saturday night.
The England centre came off the bench against Northampton last week after recovering from a long-term groin injury and is named at inside centre against the winless Italians.
Prop Logogvi'i Mulipola makes his fourth start of the season after overcoming a knee injury. He packs down alongside England outcast Tom Youngs and Dan Cole.
Vereniki Goneva comes in on the wing after missing the win over Saints while fly-half Freddie Burns replaces Owen Williams, who suffered a fractured jaw in the 30-27 derby win.
Leicester have won all nine of their previous meetings with Treviso, whose sole victory in 34 Champions Cup away games came against the Dragons in 2007, and a fifth successive Pool 4 win should confirm a quarter-final spot.
"We've worked hard to get into a position to contest the top spot in the pool, but the work is not finished yet," said Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill.
"Treviso will make it tough - we know that from our own experience. We've met them regularly in the last few seasons, and they are always a hard team to play against."
Leicester Tigers: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 3 Dan Cole, 4 Dom Barrow, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Mike Fitzgerald, 7 Tom Croft, 8 Jordan Crane.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Sebastian de Chaves, 20 Laurence Pearce, 21 Jono Kitto, 22 Seremaia Bai, 23 Peter Betham.
Benetton Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Andrea Pratichetti, 13 Samuel Christie, 12 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 11 Simone Ragusi, 10 James Ambrosini, 9 Alberto Lucchese; 1 Alberto de Marchi, 2 Ornel Gega, 3 Salesi Manu, 4 Filo Paulo, 5 Jean-François Montauriol, 6 Marco Lazzaroni, 7 Francesco Minto, 8 Robert Barbieri.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Filippo Filippetto, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Alessandro Zanni, 21 Abraham Jurgens Steyn, 22 Enrico Bacchin, 23 Luke McLean.