Tom Varndell (born 16 September 1985) is an English
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player who plays on the
wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...
as a player-coach for
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
. Varndell also has caps for
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and
England Sevens, as well as having represented other
Premiership Rugby
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...
sides
Bristol Bears
Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...
and
Wasps
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
. He is the second highest try scorer in Premiership Rugby after
Chris Ashton
Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is a retired English rugby union and former rugby league footballer, one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. Ashton primarily played wing and secondarily played fu ...
.
Early career
Varndell began playing rugby aged 8 at
Chinnor
Chinnor is a large village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about southeast of Thame and close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The village is a spring line settlement on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern escarpment. Sinc ...
rugby club in
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
before moving to
Henley Hawks
Henley Hawks is a rugby union club based in Henley-on-Thames and is one of the leading rugby clubs in the Thames Valley. The first team play in the fourth tier of the English league system; National League 2 East.
History
Henley RFC was foun ...
, where he stayed until he was 15. He was later invited by
Dusty Hare, the former
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
full back, who was
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
's Chief Scout, to train with them. 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
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...
of tries in Premiership history, doing so in a 13-minute span against
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engl ...
. 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 came on as a replacement and scored a try against
Manu Samoa
The Samoa national rugby union team represents Samoa in men's international rugby union competitions. They are governed by Samoa Rugby Union and also known as "Manu Samoa", which is thought to derive from the name of a Samoan warrior. They perf ...
at
Twickenham
Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...
in his first full 15-man international. Then, on 1 and 2 December, he made his England Sevens debut in the
Dubai Sevens
The Dubai 7s is an annual rugby sevens and social event held at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, UAE. Founded in 1970, the event is the longest running sports event in the Middle East.
Events
The Dubai 7s has six competitions each year:
* World ...
, the first tournament in the
2005–06 World Sevens Series
The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...
. Varndell was the tournament's leading try scorer as England claimed the title.
In 2006, Varndell was chosen in the
England Saxons
England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...
team for the 6 Nations, but after impressive displays for both
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
Tigers and England in the
Rugby Sevens at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
The rugby sevens at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was the third Commonwealth Games at which rugby sevens was played. It is one of the male-only sports at the Commonwealth Games, the other being boxing. The venue for the rugby competition was th ...
, he was awarded with two starting places on the senior tour to Australia. In the second of these appearances he scored a try in a 43–18 defeat. 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 teammate,
Jordan Crane.
In September 2006, Varndell played for Leicester's feeder club,
Bedford Blues
Bedford Blues are a semi-professional rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in the RFU Championship.
History
Foundation and 19th century
Bedford RUFC was founded in 1886 after an amalgamation between Bedford Rove ...
, and scored a try on his debut against
Exeter Chiefs
Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...
. Varndell ended the season playing as a replacement when Leicester won the 2007 Premiership final.
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
England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...
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.
Saxons
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
coach
Steve Bates was keen for him to put pressure on first team selection.
Varndell was selected for the 2008 summer tour to
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
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 which was his third try in four appearances for the senior England squad.
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 was a replacement when Leicester won the 2009 Premiership final. 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. As of the start of the 2013/14 season, he was the Aviva Premiership's third all-time top try scorer with 75 tries, behind the retired Steve Hanley (78) and the then all-time leader, Sale Sharks wing Mark Cueto (90).
On 7 January 2015, it was announced that Varndell was to move to
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, competing in the
RFU Championship
The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...
for the 2015–16 season.
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
Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...
.
On 10 February 2017, Varndell scored for Bristol against Harlequins to surpass Cueto's record. He scored once more for Bristol to finish the 2016-2017 Premiership Rugby season with 92 tries.
In 2018, following a brief stint in Wales with
Scarlets
The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...
, Varndell moved to French second division side
Soyaux Angoulême XV Charente on a two-year contract scoring once in a 31–18 loss to Brive. But his move to France was cut short, due to family reasons.
Varndell signed with Leicester Tigers in January 2019. This was his second stint with the club, following his time at the Tigers from 2004 to 2009.
On 6 March 2019, Varndell travelled to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
to play for
South China Tigers as part of the
Global Rapid Rugby series. He returned to England to sign a one-year contract with
Yorkshire Carnegie in the
RFU Championship
The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...
for the 2019–20 season.
On 15 May 2020, Varndell signed a contract to join Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club for the season 2020/2021 as player/coach. The move was negotiated by Terry Sands of Samurai, sports apparel manufacturer, who said:"He always has time for people and it will be all about what some of our players aspirations are, as they will be able to speak to him and soak up all his knowledge and experience." He added: "It is fantastic for the club and it is fantastic for our supporters, including all of our volunteers and sponsors that have supported the club over the years."
References
External links
*
*
Leicester Tigers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varndell, Tom
1985 births
Living people
England international rugby union players
English rugby union players
Rugby union wings
Rugby union players from Ashford, Kent
Leicester Tigers players
Bedford Blues players
Wasps RFC players
Bristol Bears players
Scarlets players
Leeds Tykes players
Black British sportsmen
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England
Rugby sevens players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Male rugby sevens players
People educated at Colston's School
England international rugby sevens players
Commonwealth Games silver medallists in rugby sevens
Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for England
Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
21st-century English sportsmen