After winning their opening four games against Saracens, Worcester, pre-tournament favourites Newcastle and London Irish, Tigers were eventually beaten 29-10 by Wasps in the final of the Coral.co.uk Middlesex Sevens in front of a 30,000 Twickenham crowd.
With Tom Varndell scoring in every round of the tournament and Tom Croft adding a try in every game up to the final, Tigers produced some impressive performances.
"Tom Croft was outstanding, Scott Bemand had a fantastic tournament and it was good to see people like Henry Tuilagi and Seru Rabeni getting games out there," said Tigers coach, Andy Key. "The whole aim of the tournament was to coincide with pre-season preparation for some of the players and they will have benefited from that. We played some decent sevens rugby.
"Wasps came straight out of their semi-final and didn't really have to warm-up again for the final, while we were still trying to warm-up. Unfortunately, we didn't get off to the greatest of starts either. We left some gaps, which were down to tiredness and, if you've already played four games, towards the end you are going to be pretty fatigued. Wasps were a bit more clinical and credit to them."
Tigers squad for the 2006 Middlesex Sevens:
Scott Bemand (Capt), Tom Croft, Seru Rabeni, Henry Tuilagi, Tom Varndell, Ian Humphries, Harry Ellis, Brett Deacon, SamVesty, Matt Smith, Frank Murphy, Gavin Hickie.
Tigers Results:
Tigers 34-15 Saracens
Tigers 31-0 Worcester Warriors
Tigers 24-21 Newcastle Falcons
Tigers 26-14 London Irish
London Wasps 29-10 Tigers
Tigers try scorers:
Varndell 7, Croft 5, Ellis 3, Smith 2, Hickie 1, Humphreys 1, Tuilagi 1,
Bemand 1.
