News

Preview: Leicester v Harlequins

Friday 21st November 2008

Out: Skinner is missing through injury

With Will Skinner out injured Harlequins have handed the captaincy to Gary Botha for Saturday's Guinness Premiership clash with Leicester at Welford Road.

With Skinner out his place in the side goes to Neil McMillan, who joins Tom Guest and Chris Robshaw in the back row.

Mike Brown is welcomed back into the side at full-back, with All Black Nick Evans looking to impress at fly-half again.

For Leicester former All Black Scott Hamilton will make his debut, having been picked to start at full-back.

Hamilton was a member of Canterbury's victorious Air New Zealand Cup squad before joining up with Tigers last week.

"Scott is a top-quality player who gives us options on the wing and at full-back," 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."

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."

The Teams:

Leicester: 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 (c), 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.

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Tosh Masson, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Charlie Amesbury, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Neil McMillan, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Jim Evans, 4 Ollie Kohn, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Gary Botha (c), 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 James Percival, 19 George Robson, 20 Junior Polu, 21 De Wet Barry, 22 Chris Malone.

Date: Saturday 22 November, 2008
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Venue: Welford Road
Referee: Sean Davey
Touch judges: Martin Buck, Alan Biggs
Assessor: Steve Lander
Television match official: Roy Marfleet