Tom Youngs will make his 100th starting appearance for Leicester Tigers on Saturday when he leads the club in their 13th successive season in the knockout stages of the Premiership Rugby season.
Tigers go to Wasps in the Aviva Premiership semi-final on Saturday on the back of victory in the last three rounds of the regular season.
Club captain Youngs is joined in the front row by Ellis Genge, who was this week named as Premiership Rugby’s Land Rover Discovery of the Season, and British & Irish Lions selection Dan Cole.
The only change in the forward pack from the starting line-up in the Round 22 victory over Worcester Warriors is the inclusion of Mike Fitzgerald in the back row, with Mike Williams among the replacements.
Telusa Veainu returns from injury to start at full-back after missing the wins over Worcester and Sale Sharks but Tigers are without JP Pietersen, Maxime Mermoz and Tom Brady due to injury.
Ed Slater is also included in the match 23 after his recovery from injury.
Head coach Matt O’Connor said: “All the lads have been working incredibly hard and putting their hands up for selection, and there have been some tough decisions to make.
“The buy-in from the players has been first class and we’ve been building some momentum in our performances, but we know we have to be very accurate in everything we do because Wasps are a class outfit and they have been the best team over 22 rounds of the season.”
Leicester Tigers (v Wasps, away, Saturday 5.15pm)
15 Telusa Veainu
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Mathew Tait
12 Owen Williams
11 Peter Betham
10 Freddie Burns
9 Ben Youngs
1 Ellis Genge
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Dan Cole
4 Dom Barrow
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Mike Fitzgerald
7 Brendon O’Connor
8 Luke Hamilton
Replacements
16 George McGuigan
17 Greg Bateman
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Ed Slater
20 Mike Williams
21 Sam Harrison
22 Jack Roberts
23 Matt Smith
