England stars set for first Leicester Tigers appearances this season

Heading into round two of the Investec Champions Cup, Leicester Tigers have been boosted by the return of England duo Anthony Watson and George Martin.

Following their win over the Stormers at Welford Road on Sunday, Leicester head to Paris on Sunday to take on Stade Francais with both Watson starting on the wing and Martin starting in the second-row.

This will be Watson’s first appearance since rejoining the club last month, and first appearance since having to pull out of England’s World Cup preparations with a calf injury. This will also be Martin’s first outing since England’s World Cup semi-final loss to South Africa in Paris in October.

Jamie George passionately defends Owen Farrell | Big Jim Show | RPTV

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Jamie George passionately defends Owen Farrell | Big Jim Show | RPTV

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After announcing the team, head coach Dan McKellar said: “It’s great for us to have both George and Anthony back in the team and I’m sure our supporters will be delighted to see them in a Tigers shirt again. Both have worked hard over the last couple of weeks to prepare themselves physically to play and to pick up the knowledge required to execute their role.”

“We’re on the back-straight of 22 consecutive fixtures and it was important to give guys an opportunity to play this week while freshening others up but our mindset going to France will not change and we’ll be ready to go at 6:30pm on Sunday.”

Leicester Tigers XV
15 Mike Brown [15]
14 Anthony Watson [16]
13 Dan Kelly [67]
12 Solomone Kata [6]
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [11]
10 Jamie Shillcock [12]
9 Tom Whiteley [16]
1 James Cronin [22]
2 Archie Vanes [10]
3 Joe Heyes [131]
4 George Martin [58]
5 Sam Carter [9]
6 Hanro Liebenberg (c) [96]
7 Matt Rogerson [11]
8 Kyle Hatherell [7]

Replacements
16 Finn Theobold-Thomas [1]
17 James Whitcombe [43]
18 Will Hurd [33]
19 Harry Wells [184]
20 Emeka Ilione [16]
21 Joe Powell [7]
22 Charlie Atkinson [23]
23 Harry Simmons [35]