9 September 2005
London Wasps Director of Rugby, Ian McGeechan has announced his starting line-up to face Leicester Tigers at the Causeway Stadium tomorrow, ko 2.45pm.

In the absence of Ayoola Erinle, McGeechan names the trusted partnership of Abbott and Waters in the centres, a change from last week’s starting fifteen against Saracens, Erinle having not fully recovered from ankle trouble following the game at Twickenham last week. Rob Hoadley comes onto the bench as centre cover.

In another change from last week, Jon Dawson wins the Number 3 shirt after having impressed last week, Peter Bracken taking his place on the bench.

Simon Shaw starts his first game of the season since returning from the Lions tour, and Tom Rees’s outstanding form sees him force his way into the starting line-up in place of John Hart, Worsley picking up the captain’s armband in the absence of Hart.

Director of Rugby McGeechan said of the Leicester side, “We know their competitiveness and consistency is an immediate challenge for us. They showed great control with the ball last week, and played very impressively.”

“We are going to keep building on our own game, and we know that we will be challenged in every area come Saturday afternoon.”

The Wasps team is:

15 Mark van Gisbergen
14 Paul Sackey
13 Fraser Waters
12 Stuart Abbott
11 Tom Voyce
10 Alex King
9 Eoin Reddan

1 Tim Payne
2 Raphael Ibanez
3 Jon Dawson
4 Simon Shaw
5 Richard Birkett
6 Tom Rees
7 Jonny O’Connor
8 Joe Worsley (c)

16 Ben Gotting
17 Peter Bracken
18 John Hart
19 Mark Lock
20 Matt Dawson
21 James Brooks
22 Rob Hoadley

Leicester Tigers head coach Pat Howard has been forced into making two late changes to Tigers' starting line-up for Saturday's Guinness Premiership clash against reigning champions London Wasps, with inside centre Dan Hipkiss and full back Sam Vesty dropping out because of injuries.

Howard is, however, fortunate enough to be able to call up two internationals, with former All Black No.12 Daryl Gibson replacing Hipkiss, whilst Ireland and Lions full back Geordan Murphy takes over from Vesty in the last line of Tigers' defence.

Gibson, the squad vice-captain, will make his fourth successive start of 2005/06, including both pre-season friendlies against Connacht and Munster, whilst Murphy will make his first start of the new season, having spent the past few weeks in the gym and on the training field.

"We were hoping to give Geordie an extra week off, but Sam's groin has got progressively worse, so he might need a few weeks off to get over that," said Howard to www.leicestertigers.com. "Danny's calf injury is a new one, which he picked up this week, but we're fortunate to be able to call upon someone like Daryl."

Gibson was initially meant to start the match on the replacements' bench. His place amongst the replacements has been taken by inside centre Matt Cornwell, who started at centre in the corresponding Premiership fixture in High Wycombe last season.

Added Howard: "We've got faith in our strength in depth, otherwise we wouldn't have selected the likes of Danny or Sam in the first place. Yes, we've had a few disruptions this week, but everyone's been at training and different players bring different positives and negatives with them."

Revised Leicester Tigers team to face London Wasps:

15 Geordan Murphy
14 Alesana Tuilagi
13 Leon Lloyd
12 Daryl Gibson
11 Tom Varndell
10 Andy Goode
9 Harry Ellis
1 Michael Holford
2 George Chuter
3 Alex Moreno
4 Leo Cullen
5 Ben Kay
6 Brett Deacon
7 Shane Jennings
8 Martin Corry (captain)

Replacements:

Ephraim Taukafa
Julian White
Louis Deacon
Luke Abraham
Austin Healey
Ross Broadfoot
Matt Cornwell