Tom Varndell

Tom Varndell
Birth name Thomas William Varndell
Date of birth (1985-09-16) 16 September 1985
Place of birth Ashford, England
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 101 kg (15 st 13 lb)[1]
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing
Current team Scarlets
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2004–2009
2006
2009–2015
2015-2018
2018-		 Leicester Tigers
→ Bedford Blues (loan)
Wasps
Bristol
Scarlets		 113
2
132
50
2		 (325)
(10)
(370)
(175)
(0)
Correct as of 12 April 2015
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2006
2005–2008		 England Saxons
England
4
(15)
Correct as of 21 March 2015
National sevens team(s)
Years Team Comps
2005 England
Medal record
Men's rugby sevens
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
2006 Melbourne Team competition

Tom Varndell (born 16 September 1985) is an English rugby union footballer who plays on the wing for Scarlets. Varndell also has caps for England and England Sevens, as well as having represented other Aviva Premiership sides Leicester Tigers and Wasps. He is currently the leading try scorer in the Aviva Premiership.

Early career

Varndell began playing rugby aged 8 at Chinnor rugby club in Oxfordshire[2] before moving to Henley Hawks, where he stayed until he was 15. He was later invited by Dusty Hare, the former England full back, who was Leicester's Chief Scout, to train with them.[3] He spent two years at the Tigers' den but left to take up a scholarship at Colston's Collegiate School in Bristol.

Career

Varndell returned to the Tigers in 2004, and made a quick impact in the Premiership. In his second appearance with the Tigers senior side, he recorded the fastest hat trick of tries in Premiership history, doing so in a 13-minute span against Worcester. He finished the 2005-06 Guinness Premiership regular season, top of the try list with 14.

Also in 2005, Varndell made his debut for both national teams within one week. On 26 November, he scored a try against Manu Samoa at Twickenham in his first full 15-man international. Then, on 1 and 2 December, he made his England Sevens debut in the Dubai Sevens, the first tournament in the 2005–06 World Sevens Series. Varndell was the tournament's leading try scorer as England claimed the title.

In 2006, Varndell was chosen in the England Saxons team for the 6 Nations, but after impressive displays for both Leicester Tigers and England in the Rugby Sevens at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, he was awarded with a two starting places on the first team, development tour to Australia. For the Elite players squad in the 2006/07 England Squad he was subsequently dropped and demoted back to the England Saxons side with new Leicester team mate, Jordan Crane.

In September 2006, Varndell played for Leicester's feeder club, Bedford Blues, and scored a try on his debut against Exeter Chiefs.

The start of the 2007/08 season saw Varndell back on the wing in the starting 15 for Leicester's opening games in the Premiership. He scored 18 tries for Leicester during the 32 games he played in the 2007/08 season

In late 2007 his girlfriend Claire gave birth to a son called Taio Varndell.

Start of 2008 saw Varndell selected for the England Saxons squad. He started the first game against the Ireland A team, at Welford Road and scored.

He was selected in the England Saxons side that defeated Ireland A at Welford Road on 1 February 2008, scoring a brace in his first international since the tour to Australia 18 months prior.[4][5] Saxons coach Steve Bates was keen for him to put pressure on first team selection.[6]

Varndell was selected for the 2008 summer tour to New Zealand and started in the 2nd test against New Zealand in Christchurch, which England lost 44–12. Varndell did, however, score a try for his team.

He was named as a member of Martin Johnson's first England elite player squad ready for selection for the 2008/09 international season but was dropped before the start of the 2009 Six Nations.

He has continued to play with success for the England IRB sevens team, and was a try-scoring member of the England Saxons team in this year's (2009) Churchill Cup.

Varndell then moved to London Wasps. In his first Wasps season he made: 26 starts, 3 replacement appearances, scoring: 19 tries, with a total of 95 points for Wasps.

He continued his scoring record in the first game of the 2012–13 season playing against reigning champions Harlequins, a game in which he was the first player in the Premiership to have a try disallowed under the new TMO law for an earlier infringement.[7] As of the start of the 2013–14 season, he is the Aviva Premiership's third all-time top try scorer with 75 tries, behind the retired Steve Hanley (78) and the current all-time leader, Sale Sharks wing Mark Cueto (90).

On 7 January 2015, it was announced that Varndell was to move to Bristol, competing in the RFU Championship for the 2015–16 season.[8]

On New Year's Day, 2017, Varndell equalled Mark Cueto's Premiership tries record of 90 tries by scoring against Sale Sharks. This followed a hat-trick in the previous week against Worcester Warriors.

References

  1. ↑ Wasps, London (28 August 2012). "Varndell Data". London Wasps. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Kitson, Robert (10 December 2005). "Varndell finds feet on fast track to the top". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ Jones, Stephen (11 December 2005). "Varndell a racing certainty". The Times.
  4. ↑ "England Saxons squad for Ireland A match". RFU. 23 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2 April 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  5. ↑ "Varndell shines in Saxons victory". BBC. 2 February 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  6. ↑ "Varndell stakes Six Nations claim". Sky Sports. 2 February 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  7. ↑ Aylwin, Michael (1 September 2012). "Champions Harlequins fight back from a 27-point deficit to beat Wasps". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Bristol sign former England winger Tom Varndell from Wasps". BBC Sport. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
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