Leicester v London Irish: Teams
Toby Flood and Ben Youngs return to the Leicester side for Saturday's sell-out against London Irish.
Last Updated: 06/05/11 3:25pm
England half-backs Toby Flood and Ben Youngs return to the Leicester line-up for Saturday's sell-out at home to London Irish.
Flood and Youngs missed the Round 21 win at Newcastle, which secured a home game in the Aviva Premiership semi-finals, but they return as the only changes for the visit of Irish.
The Tigers go into the final round of league fixtures at the top of the table and director of rugby Richard Cockerill expects a big finish.
"We've had some good wins on the road but now we have a big game at Welford Road and we want to go into the semi-finals next week on the back of a good performance," he said.
The defending champions have lost just one of their last 14 league games, winning five of their last six against London Irish.
The Exiles slipped up 20-26 at home to Northampton last time out, but won their most recent away match, 34-20 against Sale at Bolton's Reebok Stadium last month.
They have named Tom Homer at full-back and he will be joined by Adam Thompstone and Topsy Ojo in a dangerous looking back-three.
Jonathan Joseph replaces Elvis Seveali'i at outside centre and Richard Thorpe starts at number eight.
"We have prepared well and we know what is at stake," said Exiles boss Toby Booth.
"We will approach the game in the same manner that we always do and look to come away with the right result."
Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Matt Smith, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Craig Newby (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 5 George Skivington, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Ben Woods, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Horacio Agulla.
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Dan Bowden, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Richard Thorpe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Bob Casey, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody (capt).
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Gary Johnson, 20 Chris Hala'ufia, 21 Elvis Seveali'i, 22 Chris Malone, 23 Darren Allinson.