Tigers Serve up Plate

Tigers took home the inaugural Premiership 7s Plate on Friday night following victories over Northampton and London Irish.  

Tigers made two changes to the squad that earned qualification; George Catchpole rested a minor knock and Tomi Jones was dropped.  In their place Tigers called up Stourbridge's Gary Dipple & Tynedale's Ben Frankland.

Tigers looked set take their place in the night's blue ribbon Cup competition as tries from Andy Bulumakau and a scything break from Oli Bryant gave them a 14-5 lead over Cardiff with just 2 minutes remaining.  But a break away score by Welsh 7s international Dan Fish gave the Blues hope before Tom Williams shattered Tigers' hopes.

Tigers started with Farnworth, Frankland, Tresidder, Fowles, Bulumakau, Woodhead and David Williams and conceded early as Cardiff broke down a large blindside from a midfield scrum.  Cardiff dominated the first half, two try saving tackles from David Williams kept the score to one before a crucial intervention from Fowles on the goal line not only prevented a certain try but created one; Bulumakau racing the length of the field for a half time lead.

Cardiff started the second half well but the first clear cut chance came to Tresidder; spotting a hole in the Welsh defence the field opened up before him, but the Derbyshire native did not have the pace or the support to finish the break.  Sub Dan Rundle also had a great chance following his chip and go but muffed his fly hack; under pressure Cardiff knocked on and from the scrum Tigers' Oli Bryant cut back through the breaking up pack to race under the posts.

9 points up with 2 minutes remaining Tigers will be frustrated with how they threw the game away.  A simple missed tackle inside the Cardiff 22 gave the Welsh side an inch, they took a mile simply drawing the full back for Dan Fish to race away for a 90 metre score.  Tigers earned a penalty with the TV clock showing 14 minutes but the referee's time had 14 seconds left.  A poor ruck let Cardiff turn Will Owen over at the base and Dan Rundle's turnstile defence let Tom Williams in for the heartbreaking score.

With the Cup spilled Tigers were left to the Plate and an intriguing derby match with Northampton, who had been over run by eventual champions Gloucester.  In torrential rain Tigers started with Owen, Farnworth, Tresidder, Fowles, Bulumakau, David Williams and Bryant.  Much like the Cardiff game Tigers were down early; Sam Olver's delicate chip was gathered by Hutchinson and despite Fowles attentions was ruled to have scored.  Saints made it 12-0 after first team flanker Teimana Harrison picked off Will Owen's sloppy off load.

Tigers were facing an early and chastening exit but another top draw intervention from Bryant gave hope.  Receiving the ball on half way he broke through a Saints tackle before possessing the pace to round the full back and score under the posts.  Tigers then scored straight from the second half's kick off to take the lead 14-12.  First Tresidder went up the right before it was spread wide left to Fowles whose pace stretched the defence, he off loaded to Bulumakau; the Fijian's footwork beat the last man and he was clear to the line.

Bulumakau created the last score for Rundle; he swept up the loose ball and beat his man to crack the middle of the defence.  Rundle's support play earned him the easy finish as Northampton chased Bulumakau back hard.  Tigers had a 21-12 lead and managed to see out the remaining 3 minutes to secure a place in the Plate final against London Irish.

Tigers started the final with Owen, Frankland, Tresidder, Fowles, Bulumakau, Woodhead and David Williams.  Tigers took the lead as Fowles pounced on Woodhead's chip through, smashing the ball onto the line to ground it.  Tigers defence and poor discipline from both sides made the game fairly slow, Irish earning a yellow card for killing the one clean break in the first 6 minutes. 

Tigers took the full 2 minutes to take advantage of their superior numbers, Will Owen's pass cut out half the Irish team, allowing Frankland to draw the final man and give Woodhead a run to the line.  Tigers defence suffocated the Irish attack and created turnover ball that Tigers exploited for the final try.  George Tresidder's excellent catch and pass under pressure created the space for Dan Rundle to score.  Fatigue effected Irish badly as Tigers managed to keep them out and secure a rare clean sheet. 

Oli Bryant was the stand out attacking player on the night with his two tries excellent, David Williams will be pleased with his defensive contribution but disappointed with a high profile knock on as he took a quick penalty.  Of the specialists Andy Bulumakau has already secured a deal with Doncaster and surely Josh Fowles talents will see him move on from Longton in the 6th tier of English rugby.

Tiger Cubs roar into 7s Finals

Tigers secured their place in a second consecutive Premiership Rugby 7s Finals day with a second place in finish in Group D on Saturday night.  A reported crowd of 7,057 were on hand to see Tigers secure victories over London Welsh & Sale.

Tigers opened the proceedings by facing hosts Newcastle.  The Falcons’ new artificial pitch is being installed at Kingston Park which forced the change of venue to the Darlington arena.

Sevens specialists Tomi Jones, Andy Bulumakau & Dan Rundle joined academy prospects George Catchpole, George Tresidder, Oli Bryant and Rhys Williams in the starting line up; Falcons had Premiership experience in Tom Catterick and former Super League Grand Final Man of the Match Lee Smith.

Tigers opened the scoring after only 27 seconds.  Bulumakau broke free through the middle and had the pace to scorch in from his own half.  Falcons claimed a messy ball from the restart and played patience possession rugby until Chris Harris found a gap sniping up the side of a ruck to break free and score.  Newcastle struck again as Tom Catterick seemed to have added another but it was ruled out; Tresidder's tackle forced a knock on. 

George Catchpole claimed Tigers second try of the night; Coventry winger Dan Rundle, guesting for the Tigers, stretched the Falcons' defence running from his own 22, his off load found Tomi Jones who weaved his way through 3 tackles before giving Catchpole a simple run in to the line. 

Newcastle’s second try was fortuitous, the field opened up after a blocked kick, but Tigers will be disappointed with the lost scrum just before.  The try meant Tigers went into half time with a 14-12 lead.

Catterick showed his skills to add another try just after half time, cutting back inside Rhys Williams to expose Tigers inside defence, giving Newcastle the lead for the first time.  Bryant & Tresidder were wasteful in the Newcastle 22 but a quick turnover by Will Owen gave Tigers good ball and Tresidder went under the posts unmolested to quickly restore Tigers’ 2 point advantage.

Catterick claimed his hat trick with under a minute left.  Tigers were ruled to have held on; the try was inevitable, 3 men still on the floor from the ruck, a tap and go exposed the gaps.  A home town decision in the final ruck gave Newcastle possession to run down the clock and secure a 5 point win.

Next Tigers faced Welsh, the Exiles had only 10 minutes rest from the end of their win against Sale.  Academy hooker Jake Farnworth joined specialists Josh Fowles and Phil Woodhead in the starting line up as Rundle, Rhys Williams and Bryant made way.  Bulumakau again showed his footwork and pace, beating his man in his own half and having the speed to race away to the line.  Welsh responded when Chris Levesley raced past Phil Woodhead like he wasn’t there to score under the posts.

Tomi Jones’ neat grubber looked to have unlocked the Welsh defence but his second touch was too strong, booting it out the back of the in goal area.  Bulumakau set Catchpole through but the centre lacked the pace or support to finish, the Fijian then had to leave the field with a head knock ruling him out for the rest of the night.  Former Tigers academy man Will Hurrell looked to have scored on the final play of the first half but could not shake the attentions of Josh Fowles who prevented the grounding.

Fowles got the next try after half time, his pace seeing off Hurrell in his own 22, before some great footwork on half way beat the last man.  Hurrell got his own back with a try off the back of some clever passes from Welsh, manipulating the Tigers defence and giving him an easy run in.

With less than a minute left it looked like Tigers had returned to form of previous years and were going to crash out after 2 rounds.  But this is sevens after all and anything can happen.  Straight from the kick off David Williams tapped the ball down to namesake but no relation Rhys Williams.  He spread it wide to Bryant who gave Rundle the ball with clear ground in front of him.  The former Tynedale winger went inside one man, outside another and raced away with his ears pinned back for the winning score.

The final game was against Sale, also on 10 minutes rest, with Tigers knowing a bonus point win would see them through to Finals day next Friday at the Stoop.  Tigers started with Will Owen, Catchpole, Tresidder and David Williams joined by the specialists Jones, Fowles and Woodhead.

Sale took advantage of a slip in the Tigers line to pile on some early pressure but good work rate and discipline meant the Tigers got back just in time; a goal line stand forced Sale into the error but they were still first to score minutes later when George Beal went over in the corner following nice work from Nathan Fowles.

Tigers struck straight back with a try of good quality from George Tresidder.  Lazy defending on the inside was ruthlessly exposed by Tresidder who simply ran straight and ran hard, bamboozling two defenders.  In a see saw game Fowles put Sale straight back into the lead with a solo try, brushing off Phil Woodhead’s attentions.

With 7 minutes up it was good to see both sides continue to play the game, rather than seeking half time with touch, and it was Tigers who profited; considered build up saw the ball through all 7 pairs of hands before George Catchpole pirouetted his way through the Sale defence and strode in under the posts for the go ahead score.

The second half was more of a procession for Tigers; first Josh Fowles simply outpaced his man one on one to score on the outside, then David Williams jagged back towards the posts after good work by Tresidder to secure the bonus point.  Finally Dan Rundle had a short jog into the corner following a sniping break by Woodhead.

That result meant Tigers were through unless a bizarre game between Newcastle and London Welsh resulted in an 18 point or greater win for the Exiles with Newcastle scoring at least 4 tries.  Needless to say that odd result was not achieved and Tigers can look forward to a trip to the Stoop next Friday.

Sevens specialists Josh Fowles and Andy Bulumakau impressed for Tigers whilst George Catchpole and George Tresidder top scored with 14 points each.  Oli Bryant was an effective cog in many of the moves whilst Will Owen showed his ability in the ruck, earning a crucial turn over in the first game.

With no friendly lined up for next week hopefully Tigers will be able to name an even stronger squad.

Taff Students Fill in Blanks for Tigers Sevens

Tigers have hit the phones hard to rustle up a side for this Friday's J.P. Morgan 7s Finals Day after 7 of the side from the heats traveled with the rest of the main squad to Switzerland ahead of this Friday's fixture with Montpellier.  

Captain Scott Steele will once again lead the side after last Friday's heroic performances where Tigers not only won their first game but beat Northampton to clinch a spot in Finals Day.  He is joined by scrum half George Tresidder, winger and now world famous singer Tahir El Mahdi, flanker Jake Farnworth and Friday's final try scorer city school boy David Williams.  

Coming into the side from the Academy is hooker Harry Thacker, so of Troy Thacker, who made his first team debut away to Saracens in last season's LV Cup.

Richmond flanker Steve Woods played in the 2012 Finals Day for eventual champions London Welsh and was a regular for the National League 1 phoenix club.

The rest of the side has a distinctly Welsh and particularly Student feel to it.  

Ollie Turton and Steff Andrews are both ex-Bryanston public school boys, Turton appears to be from Devon and went to Glamorgan University whilst Andrews is currently playing for Aberavon in the Principality Premiership.

Steff Jones is a Welsh winger from Bristol University who has played 7s for GB Universities and for Welsh Students in the XVs game.  I think Rhodri Davis is in fact Rhodri Davies who played at scrum half for the Welsh Students and is currently at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

James Thomas is a Bedwas number 8, who captained Cardiff University in their "Varsity" match with Swansea this April.  He has captained Wales at Under 20s level.

Historically a bunch of ring ins hasn't worked out too well for Tigers in the 7s but at least this lot are young, hungry and 7s specialists.

Tigers Squad for J.P. Morgan 7s Finals Day at Bath, Friday August 9th
1 David Williams
2 Jake Farnworth
3 Steve Wood
4 Ollie Turton
5 James Thomas
6 Stef Jones
7 Rhodri Davis
8 Steff Andrews
9 George Tresidder
10 Tahir El Mahdi
11 Scott Steele (c)
12 Harry Thacker

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UPDATE: James Thomas has pulled out and has been replaced by Tom Pointer, a scrum half/winger from Loughborough University, studying Fine Art of all things.  Pointer has been involved with both Wasps and London Irish's academies.

7s Heaven Tiger Cubs Win Through to Final Stages

In the week that the RFU dismissed their efforts as meaningless the Tiger cubs showed just what wearing the famous jersey meant to them as they roared to not only their first ever victory in this event but also into next weekend's final series in Bath.

Michael Noone and Oli Bryant had pulled out from the initial selection injured and were replaced by David Williams and Tahir El Mahdi.

First up were the Sale Sharks, the aggregate score over the last three years between the sides was 130-15 to the Cheshire side.  With Canadian international Phil Mackenzie and regular first team player Nathan Fowles leading Sale no one gave the young Leicester lads much chance.  

To begin with the doubters were being proved right as Sale dominated territory, pinning the Tigers back in their 22m cage, and possession, starving the Tigers of the ball.  From a quick tap Nathan Fowles had the Tigers back pedaling and USA 7s specialist Blaine Scully could do nothing as Fowles stepped about 5m laterally to round him for the try.

But the fighting spirit so often associated with the club was once again to the fore as the Tigers fought back valiantly to keep a toe hold in the competition.  

Scully made a long striding break to get up to halfway, the ball was spread to Pasqualle Dunn the school boy Kiwi Rugby League International who stood still, inviting, daring, challenging the Northern hordes on to him to tackle him, to down him.  They came at him but beat one man, beat two, beat three to set the Tigers up on the 22.  The 7 minutes was now up, one mistake and its was Nil Points at half time,  and Tigers lost it.  All Sale needed to do was win the ruck and kick it out.  But they couldn't.  Harry Wells was on top of them jackaling the ball away and putting Jake Farnworth into the corner for the score.

Tigers started the second half brightly, with Scully almost freeing Perry Humphrys but failing to free his hands from the tackle.  Lucas Guillaume went close but was turned over inches from the line.  Will Cliff, Sale's experienced Premiership operator, took out George Tresidder late and earned himself a 7s-style 60 second sin binning.  With the Sharks down to 6 men the Tigers had an attacking scrum on the left hand flank.  The ball was centered to late call up Tahir El Mahdi, with a continental football style nickname of "Cookie" on his back.  He did an underrated tactic in 7s.  He ran at the defence with commitment and pace.  "Tackle me, if you can" he said.  One little brush off against Tom Brady, another Premiership campaigner, and he was through for the winning try!

Victory!  For the first time in the J.P. Morgan 7s Tigers had returned with a win.

Leicester had no time to rest on their laurels though as they had to back up with a match against 2011 Champions Newcastle.  Harrison Collins stepped inside Harry Wells for Newcastle's first try and dove straight through a ruck a meter out for the second.  Tom Catterick made it 19-0 at half time after bludgeoning over from a quick tap penalty.

Normal service resumed?  Not a bit of it.  The Cubs came out fighting and won the second half 10-0 as they showed they were no pushovers.  Good pressure defence from the Tigers forced the Newcastle error and George Catchpole was on hand to turn it inside to Pasqualle Dunn who trotted to the line for the score after only 30 seconds of the second half.  Newcastle are a quality 7s side and attacked again, Blaine Scully the Californian on trial at the club pulled off a miraculous classic cover tackle to force the Falcons into touch, before a NFL-style throw released Henry Purdy on the far side of the posts to break out and turn defence into attack.  Leicester's competitiveness at the breakdown went too far once too often and Jake Farnworth was shown the yellow card.  Newcastle couldn't take advantage of the 6 man Tigers though as it was Leicester who had the final word.  

Henry Purdy pilfered the pill at a midfield ruck, allowing Tresidder to race away down the right hand flank.  He passed inside for Jake Farnworth to scuttle his way over from the 22.  Tigers had a conversion to earn the bonus point but with no kicker in the team it was not to be.

That meant the final game against Northampton was winner takes all.  The victor would move on to the Finals Series played at the Wreck, Bath, whilst the loser would go home to think again.  

The St.James crowd was in fine voice as the match began but it was Tigers who started better with Jake Farnworth wrestling the ball free in the first tackle.  Watching on from the stands were first teamers Julian Salvi, Graham Kitchener and Niall Morris and they looked on approvingly as Tigers benefited from a classic piece of 7s rugby.  It was Northampton on the attack and they looked all set to score after rounding El Mahdi, but scorching across the August turf was the American Scully to put in another trademark cover tackle.  Scully and Steele turned it over and Tresidder played it outside to the rapid El Mahdi.  He turned the defence inside out as he raced away for the try. 

El Mahdi was the man again for Tigers second try, Purdy picked and went through the middle of the ruck drawing defenders like flies to honey, Tresidder drew the last man and it looked like an easy run to the line.  But "Cookie" had other ideas as he turned back towards and the posts and monstered past three defenders before reaching out and grazing the line with ball on the limits of his finger tips.  He'd have been shot if he'd messed it up but when you score there are no questions to answer just praise for the finish.

Northampton pulled it back to make it a one score game as Alex Day pounced on Ryan Glyn's chip through to make it 10-5.  The Saints had their tails up now and were sniffing a finals place. 

Tigers defence hassled, harried and hustled the Saints into a litany of errors.  Disruptive breakdown work from Purdy allowed captain Scott Steele to steam through the middle of the ruck and kick the ball loose.  George Catchpole was on hand to clear up the mess and he found David Williams, a 17 year old from the city's Lancaster Boys School, who sealed Tigers place at the Rec with the try.

Afterwards Tahir El Mahdi impressed us all with his singing voice in an interview with Craig Doyle:

RFU's Idea of Justice should shame the game

Tigers chief executive Simon Cohen has blasted the RFU as "absurd" after their panel of blazered buffoons tied themselves in knots by excluding the J.P.Morgan Asset Management 7s and pre-season trip to Geneva where we face Montpellier from its reduction in head coach Richard Cockerill's ban.  The RFU have ruled that these games aren't "meaningful".

I'm sure that will go down well at J.P. Morgan to know that the RFU consider their support of our great game to be meaningless.

I'm sure it will also help the game in Switzerland to know that a game between two Heineken Cup group rivals, just 7 days before the start of the Top 14 season, is also as meaningless as a game of jumpers for trylines in the park.  

I've already written about the stupidity of banning someone for saying the word "fuck" in conversation so won't go over that again.

But the RFU really does plumb new depths of incompetence with every stroke.  The RFU have decided that the J.P. Morgan 7s and the Montpellier game are meaningless jollies (of which to be fair they have ample experience) because they "will not involve six British Lions players or South Pacific players".  So on that basis the LV Cup will be excluded from any future bans as none of our international players play in that?  

But wait!  In the initial hearing the RFU used a quote from Cockerill that the LV Cup was a "mickey mouse cup with mickey mouse refereeing" to damn him as insolent.  So which is it?  Are games without your internationals meaningful or not?  It seems to me that the RFU is having its cake and eating it too.  

When it wants to harm Cockerill and the Tigers games without your internationals are worthy of their consideration but when that attitude should benefit you they volte face and decide in fact no, only "proper" First XV games count.  And they decide what is a First XV game.  Very fair.  Very impartial.

The Montpellier fixture is the only pre-season game to be deemed worthy of broadcast on TV, and again from the initial hearing we know how important the "image" of the game is to the watching "millions" of fans.  But again the RFU change their tune when it becomes clear that the dastardly villain in front of them might possibly gain from their own self important opinions. 

The Blazers cover themselves in glory again when they describe the Ulster and Jersey games as significant because they are "before paying spectators".  Perhaps any Tigers fan who has a ticket to tonight's 7s should email the RFU (discipline@therfu.com, we know how much they love emails these days) with an invoice as they have clearly been mistakenly charged for this event which is obviously meant to be completely free to enter.  

The Montpellier match in Geneva is charging as much as £280.00, to the Blazered Old Farts that might be pocket change but to anyone in the real world that is clearly a large amount for what is a premium game between two of Europe's powerhouses.

On the BBC Radio Leicester "Leicester Tigers Rugby Hour" (Link here), Ian Cockerill (no relation) suggests that the RFU's conduct has been so disgraceful that Tigers could report them to the Bar Standards Board for censure under the Human Rights act.  Frankly nothing would make me happier than seeing the reaction of all the London tory toffs to Tigers using their bete noir of the Human Rights Act to get one over on the stuffed shirts in Twickenham.

Clearly any rational justice system would include ALL the pre-season games, as for example Calum Clarke's, Dylan Hartley's or Neil Back's bans at various points did, rather than pick and choose the games in order to justify banning Cockerill from the Heineken Cup.  Unfortunately we don't have rational justice; we have the kind of traditional British justice that brought us the Guildford 4.  For shame RFU.

Full Appeal Document here.

7 Hells, Tigers give cubs baptism of Fire

Tigers name another team of cubs for J.P. Morgan 7s as the search goes on for the Tigers first ever win in the competition.  Coming in with an average age of only 19 Tigers have certainly once again given youth its head in what will be the club's first appearance on the new BT Sport channel.

Captaining the side is Scotland Under 20s scrum half Scott Steele, who first played for the club in the 2011 7s at Stockport.  Steele is an old head in the squad having celebrated his 20th birthday last week.  Joining him in the "experienced" bracket is 23 year old Irishman Michael Noone, who made a huge impression in last seasons A League and LV Cup, and 22 year old French flanker Lucas Guillaume.  

The only truly experienced player in the squad is also the only unusual name to Tigers fans ears.  Blaine Scully is a 25 year old winger-cum-full back whose trial with the club was exclusively revealed by the UltraSubMarines on our twitter account two weeks ago.  Scully took up rugby whilst at UCLA and has represented the USA at both 7s and the full fat version, including playing for the Eagles at the 2011 World Cup.

Forward Harry Wells and back Henry Purdy were both part of England Under 20s squad which won the World Cup for the first time this summer; both also made their first team debuts in last seasons LV Cup and were impressive for the A team.  

George Catchpole and Pasqualle Dunn are both centres who can play on the wing, Catchpole is originally from Norfolk whilst Dunn is originally from New Zealand and has a background in Rugby League.

Jake Farnworth, George Tresidder, Oliver Bryant and Perry Humphreys were all part of the Academy's Under 18s side which won 6 out of 6, all with try bonus points, in the inaugural Academy League.  Farnworth is a flanker/#8 fro Staffordshire who scored 5 tries in that league campaign from 2 starts and 4 appearances from the bench.  Bryant was the team's captain, fly half and goal kicker so unsurprisingly top scored the side; Bryant is originally from Redruth in Cornwall.  Perry Humphreys is a full back from Lincoln and George Tresidder spent much of last year out with injury but returned to play for England Under 19s and made the final game of the Under 18s league, he is from Derby.

As a fan who likes to remember that we are still called Leicester Football Club there is a part of me that is sad that none of this squad is from our fair city, or even the county. 

Leicester Tigers (JP Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby Sevens, Friday, August 2, Franklin's Gardens, kick-off 7.15pm)
1 Michael Noone
2 Jake Farnworth
3 Lucas Guillaume
4 Harry Wells
5 Blaine Scully
6 George Catchpole
7 Pasqualle Dunn
8 Henry Purdy
9 George Tresidder
10 Oliver Bryant
11 Scott Steele (c)
12 Perry Humphreys

Northampton name Russian test winger Vasily Artemyev in their squad alongside long serving club man Paul Diggin.   Alex Day was part of the World Champion Under 20s this summer.  Older fans will recognise the name of Olver, fly half Sam is the son of long time Saints hooker John Olver.  Saints also pick Andy Robinson's son Andy who is playing as a "guest" from Moseley along with Buster Lawrence.

Northampton Saints: Vasily Artemyev, Tom Collins, Alex Day, Ryan Glynn (c), Will Hooley, Sam Olver, Tom Stephenson, Harry Bett, Paul Diggin, Sam Harry, Buster Lawrence, Olly Robinson
  
Dean Richards names previous Falcon's coach Alan Tait's son Michael in his squad alongside Milky Bar Kid look-a-like Joel Hodgson and schoolboy wing sensation Zack Kibirige.  First teamer Kiwi back row Richard Mayhew captains the squad.

Newcastle Falcons: Harrison Collins, Ben Morris, Richard Mayhew (c), Glen Young, Michael Tait, Tom Catterick, Zach Kibirige, Chris Harris, Andy Davies, Joel Hodgson, Sean Brown, Tom Penny

Sale Sharks select one time Tiger James Doyle in their squad alongside Canadian international Phil Mackenzie, a summer singing from London Welsh, and experienced Premiership campaigners Will Cliff, Tom Brady (not that one) and Nathan Fowles.  Doyle came off the bench in the win against Harlequins in the 2012 LV Cup group stage.

Sale Sharks: Cameron Neild, James Doyle, Jason Hill, Jack Allcock, Luke Wishnowsky, Will Cliff, Nathan Fowles, Tom Brady, Phil MacKenzie, James Mitchell, Josh Fowles, John O’Donnell

7s Heaven as JP Morgan Series reveals draw

Premiership Rugby has released the draw for next seasons JP Morgan 7s series.  In a change to the previous format all three groups will be played over the same weekend, rather than 3 weekends as before, with the finals coming the weekend after.  This will be the first Rugby broadcast under the new TV deal with BT. 

Tigers are drawn in a pool with relegation rivals Sale and London Welsh as well as hosts Northampton to be played on Friday August 2nd.  The promoted side replaces the relegated one so the likelihood is that Newcastle will replace one of Sale or Welsh.

Should Tigers break the habit of a lifetime and actually do well in this competition the finals are in Bath on Friday the 9th of August. 

Pool A
Thursday, August 1
Kingsholm, Gloucester Rugby
Pools: Bath Rugby, Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester Rugby, Worcester Warriors
KO: 7.30pm

Pool B
Friday, August 2
Franklins Gardens, Northampton Saints
Pools: Leicester Tigers, London Welsh, Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks
KO: 7.30pm

Pool C
Saturday, August 3
Allianz Park, Saracens
Pools: Harlequins, London Irish, London Wasps, Saracens
KO: 7.30pm

Series Final
Friday 9th August
The Recreation Ground, Bath Rugby
Pools: Top 2 from each pool
KO: 7.00pm

Tiger Cubs thoroughly bummed

The J.P. Morgan 7s series continued in usual fashion for Tigers as they once again failed to win a match succumbing to Saints in a closely fought encounter 26-24 before the two biggest defeats in the series history.  Beating our record from last year we lost 50-5 against Sale before London Welsh heaped more humiliation on the Tiger Cubs beating them 52-5.

Commendable performances: Joe "Co" Cain, Tom Hudson and Alex Lewington.

Waste of space: Alex Wooldridge, thanks for trying but fuck off and never darken my door again.

Pasqualle's Dunn In as Jones gets a Luke in.

A injury to Pasqualle Dunn has forced him out of tonight's J.P. Morgan 7s.  He is replaced by Luke Jones.

Jones is a winger from Guernsey, signing to the academy this summer after a season of mens rugby.

Opponents for J.P. Morgan 7s announced

London Welsh:

1. Ben Seru
2. Gerhard Vessells
3. Tom Rees
4. Iolo Evans
5. Michael Hills (Capt)
6. Peceli Nacamavuto
7. Aaron Myers
8. Rhys Howells
9. Ed Tellwright
10. Chris Banfield
11. Rhodri McAtee
12. Geraint Walsh 

Northampton Saints:

1 Ethan WALLER
2 Jack ALLCOCK
3 Darrell DYER
4 Tom COLLINS
5 Tom STEPHENSON
6 Ryan GLYNN
7 Alex WOOTTON
8 Alex WOOLFORD
9 Will HOOLEY
10 Alex DAY
11 Anders MOGENSEN
12 Howard PACKMAN

Sale Sharks:

 

1.Will Bordill

2.Tom Cruse

3.James Doyle

4.Will Hafu

5.Mark Easter (capt.)

6.Mark Jennings

7.Jordan Davies

8.Will Cliff

9.Tom Brady

10.Charlie Amesbury

11.Johnny Leota

12.Will Addison

Squad for J.P. Morgan 7s announced

Tigers squad for J.P. Morgan 7s announced

1 Matt Cornwell (c)
2 Andy Symons
3 Alex Lewington
4 Pasqualle Dunn
5 Tom Hudson
6 Joe Cain
7 Harry Wells
8 George Oliver
9 Tom Bellak
10 Harrison Lee-Everton
11 Lawrence Wooldridge
12 Brock Davies

Lawrence Wooldridge and Brock Davies are new players.

Davies is an Aussie League player last seen playing for Montpelier.

Brock Davies audition video:

 Wooldridge is more of a mystery.  Seems to be 400m runner and part time 7s player.