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Veteran Argentine front-rower Marcos Ayerza will fly the flag of there Americas for the Leicester Tigers this weekend. The East Midlands powerhouses are to play away from home at the nearby City Ground in Nottingham.
The Leicester Tigers earned home advantage over their opponents, Racing 92. The French visitors are entering the fixture in fine form having eliminated the three-year running European Champions Cup winners Toulon at the Quarter Finals stage. Leicester reached the final by comprehensively defeating the out-of-sorts Stade Français.
For the English side Ayerza has been named to start at loosehead prop in a front-row which also features Dan Cole and Harry Thacker. Ayerza and Cole have been together for a lengthily period and have enjoyed great success in the Aviva Premiership.
Even before the arrival of Cole Ayerza was a prominent Tiger. To date the Buenos Aires forward has been involved in four successful Aviva Premiership title winning campaigns. The championships won in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2013, though, have yet to be replicated in Europe. Ayerza started for Leicester in the 2009 final which was won by Irish province Leinster.
LEICESTER TIGERS
15 Mathew Tait (capt.), 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Peter Betham, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Opeti Fonua, 7 Lachlan McCaffrey, 6 Mike Fitzgerald, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Tom Croft, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Adam Thompstone
