England star ruled out as Leicester Tigers make late change

England's record cap holder Ben Youngs has been ruled of Leicester Tigers' Heineken Champions Cup clash with Clermont Auvernge.

A club statement reads: "There has been a change to the Leicester Tigers matchday squad to face Clermont Auvergne in the 1st Leg of the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 at the Stade Marcel-Michelin.

"Ben Youngs is out of today's fixture through illness. In his place, Jack van Poortvliet will start at scrum-half. Richard Wigglesworth joins the Leicester bench."

"The matchday squad remains otherwise unchanged from the side named on Friday."

Previewing the trip to France, Head Coach Steve Borthwick said: “Clermont are an excellent side with a great balance throughout their team.”

“They have a big, powerful forward pack with a very good scrum, very good maul and experienced half backs who boss a game really well, controlling things, and electric pace and power out wide in a dangerous backline.”

“This European adventure, which taken us a few different places so far this season, is now taking us to Clermont; a great place to be able to play rugby and represent Leicester Tigers.”

LEICESTER TIGERS:

15 Freddie Steward

14 Harry Potter

13 Guy Porter

12 Dan Kelly

11 Hosea Saumaki

10 George Ford

9 Jack van Poortvliet

1 Ellis Genge (c)

2 Julián Montoya

3 Joe Heyes

4 Ollie Chessum

5 Calum Green

6 Hanro Liebenberg (vc)

7 Tommy Reffell

8 Jasper Wiese

REPLACEMENTS

16 Nic Dolly

17 James Whitcombe

18 Dan Cole

19 Harry Wells

20 Eli Snyman

21 Richard Wigglesworth

22 Freddie Burns

23 Matías Moroni