Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks Premiership Preview

Leicester Tigers have named Ed Slater and Leonardo Ghiraldini in their team to play Sale Sharks at Welford Road in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday.y season.

Club captain Slater and international hooker Ghiraldini are both included among the replacements on their recovery from injury.

Slater returns for the first time since the New Year fixture at Saracens, while Ghiraldini is in line for only a second appearance since the Rugby World Cup after a hamstring problem.

Tom Youngs returns from a one-game ban to lead the team at hooker and Logovi’i Mulipola starts at loosehead.

Jordan Crane comes in at No8, with Lachlan McCaffrey moving to openside in the only other change to the team that started at Gloucester last weekend.

Leicester Tigers are one of only three teams with a 100% home winning record in Aviva Premiership Rugby this season – the others being Saracens and Exeter Chiefs.

Tigers’ only loss in the last six rounds in the tournament was on a trip to Saracens on 2nd January.

Sale Sharks only defeat in their last seven matches in all tournaments was 17-33 at Exeter in Aviva Premiership Rugby on Boxing Day, however the Sharks have lost their last eight away games in the tournament since they overturned London Welsh 52-12 in Oxford on 15th February 2015.

Tigers have won their last dozen contests in major competitions against Sale since Sharks 15-12 victory at Edgeley Park in Premiership Rugby in September 2009.

Sharks have been triumphant at Welford Road just once since 2003: 14-11 in Premiership Rugby in February 2008.

Meanwhile Sale Sharks boss Steve Diamond has retained the 23 players that defeated London Irish but made three changes to his starting XV, with Ross Harrison, Vadim Cobilas & Cameron Neild coming into the side.

Eifion Lewis-Roberts, Brian Mujati & David Seymour moving to the bench.

Ahead of the fixture, Steve Diamond said: “Leicester is the place where you want to go and win, but history tells us that hasn’t happened often, but we are a different Sale than we have been in the last few years.”

“We need to go and play, we need to do what we’ve been doing, and pick a plan and implement it and hopefully beat them. We’re looking for a good performance this weekend to carry on the form.”

Match : Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks
Date : Saturday 6 February
Venue : Welford Road,
Kick Off : 3pm
Live on: N.A
Match Officials
Referee :Tim Wigglesworth (100th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Ross Campbell & Paul Burton.
TMO: Trevor Fisher.

Teams

Leicester Tigers

15 Tommy Bell , 14 Peter Betham , 13 Mathew Tait , 12 Matt Smith , 11 Telusa Veainu , 10 Freddie Burns , 9 Sam Harrison , 1 Logovi’i Mulipola , 2 Tom Youngs (c) , 3 Fraser Balmain , 4 Dom Barrow , 5 Graham Kitchener , 6 Mike Fitzgerald , 7 Lachlan McCaffrey , 8 Jordan Crane

Replacements : 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini , 17 Riccardo Brugnara , 18 Greg Bateman , 19 Ed Slater , 20 Tom Croft , 21 Jono Kitto , 22 Gonzalo Camacho , 23 Jack Roberts

Sale Sharks

15. Mike Haley, 14. Will Addison, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Tuitupou, 11. Nev Edwards, 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Chris Cusiter, 1. Ross Harrison, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Vadim Cobilas, 4. Bryn Evans, 5. Andrei Ostrikov, 6. Cameron Neild, 7. TJ Ioane, 8. Josh Beaumont (capt).

Replacements: 16. Neil Briggs, 17. Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18. Brian Mujati, 19. Jonathan Mills, 20. David Seymour, 21. Peter Stringer, 22. Joe Ford, 23. Tom Arscott.