Hamilton steps up for Tigers debut
Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:03
New Zealand international Scott Hamilton, having arrived in the UK earlier this week, will make his debut for Leicester Tigers in their home Premiership fixture against Harlequins on Saturday.
Hamilton was a member of Canterbury's victorious Air New Zealand Cup squad before joining up with the Welford Road contingent.
"Scott is a top-quality player who gives us options on the wing and at fullback," said Tigers head coach Heyneke Meyer.
"I have seen a lot of him in Super 14 rugby and he is a very consistent player. I am delighted he has joined us."
Hamilton wears the No.15 shirt as Geordan Murphy is away on duty with Ireland in the only change to the Tigers backline from the match at Bath last Saturday.
Up front, captain Martin Corry joins Ben Kay at lock, while Craig Newby teams up with Lewis Moody and Brett Deacon in the back row.
"We really want to take our game on and we probably produced our best 80 minutes of rugby so far this season at Bath last weekend," said Meyer.
"The team stayed positive and showed great character, and now we want to build on that performance."
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Matt Smith, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Craig Newby, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Martin Corry (captain), 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Boris Stankovich
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Santiago Bonorino, 18 Marco Wentzel, 19 Dan Hemingway, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Tom Varndell.
Date: Saturday, November 22
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 15.00 (15.00 GMT)
Referee: Sean Davey
Touch judges: Martin Buck, Alan Biggs
TMO: Roy Marfleet
With thanks to leicestertigers.com
