Meyer appoints a Mauger captain
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:27
Heyneke Meyer has named All Black Aaron Mauger as captain for his first Guinness Premiership fixture as head coach of Leicester Tigers, when they face Gloucester in a Round One match at Kingsholm on Sunday.
Mauger will captain a Tigers XV with a backline that is unchanged from the final pre-season fixture, against Western Force last weekend.
He is joined by fullback Geordan Murphy, wings Tom Varndell and Alesana Tuilagi, centre Dan Hipkiss and halfbacks Toby Flood (No.10) and Harry Ellis (No.9) in an all-international back division.
England internationals George Chuter and Julian White are joined by Marcos Ayerza in the front row, with Richard Blaze and Ben Kay at lock. Tom Croft, Ben Herring and Jordan Crane form the back row combination.
Off-season arrival Flood makes his first Guinness Premiership appearance for Tigers, while fellow new signings Ben Woods and Julien Dupuy are named among the replacements at Kingsholm.
Meyer said he was very happy with the "great work ethic" at the Tigers.
"The players have worked very hard in the off-season," Meyer said.
"We made improvements in each of the pre-season games and now we will be looking to improve again. Gloucester are a very good side and this will be a good contest.
"We have got a good squad here and I am looking forward to the first game and looking forward to trying to get the best out of the players."
Prop Martin Castrogiovanni and fellow forwards Lewis Moody and Louis Deacon are sidelined for the opening weeks of the campaign, while Martin Corry, Ayoola Erinle and new flyhalf signing Derick Hougaard (from Meyer's former Blue Bulls team in South Africa) were also not considered for selection due to injury.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Aaron Mauger (captain), 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben
Herring, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Richard Blaze, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Marco Wentzel, 19 Ben Woods, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Matt Smith.
Date: Sunday, September 7
Venue: Kingsholm, Gloucester
Kick-off: 16.00 (15.00 GMT)
Referee: Dave Pearson
Touch judges: Robin Goodliffe, Bruce Robertson
TMOs: Matt Peters, Geoff Warren
