WORCESTER Warriors give debuts to two summer signings in the Premiership Rugby Cup season-opener against Leicester Tigers at Sixways on Saturday (3pm).

Tighthead prop Conor Carey, who has joined from Connacht, and back row Caleb Montgomery, recruited from Ulster, are in Warriors’ starting XV.

Lock Graham Kitchener, who has returned from Leicester, starts against his former club for his first Warriors appearance in eight years.

Two players return from long-term injuries. Wales international Ashley Beck starts having recovered from the broken leg he suffered in the European Challenge Cup victory over Stade Francais in Paris last October.

Loosehead prop Ryan Bower, another ex-Leicester forward, is a replacement having completed his rehabilitation from the ruptured Achilles tendon sustained against Saracens in the Premiership Rugby Cup last November.

Hooker Isaac Miller and lock James Scott make their first starts for Warriors having made six and two appearances respectively off the bench last season.

Versatile scrum-half or fly-half Gareth Simpson is in line to make his debut having joined the Three Pears Warriors Academy after impressing on trial last season.

Simpson and Montgomery were involved in last weekend’s Premiership Rugby Sevens at Northampton.

Second row Harry Wells will captain a Tigers side including six players who make their senior debuts for the club as well as two more in line for their first appearance from the replacements.

New recruit Joe Thomas is at outside-centre with academy graduates Jack Van Poortvliet and Sam Costelow forming a half-back partnership.

Wing Andy Forsyth and number eight Ifereimi Boladau, who are both on loan for the duration of the Rugby World Cup, are also in the first XV.

Warriors: van Breda; Humphreys, Beck, Mills, Hammond; Lance, Heaney; Waller, Miller, Carey, Scott, G Kitchener, Hill, Montgomery, van Velze. Replacements: Cutting, Bower, Mudariki, Fatialofa, Lewis, Simpson, Shillcock, Hearle.

Tigers: Steward; Aspland-Robinson, Thomas, Hardwick, Forsyth; Costelow, Van Poortvliet; Gigena, Clare, Cortes, Martin, Wells, Lewis, Reffell, Boladau. Replacements: Polota-Nau, Lines, Heyes, Jordan, Smith, Law, McPhillips, Worth.