A young Tigers squad beat Sale Sharks in their opening game and then clinched second spot in the pool with victory over hosts Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night.
Tigers join pool winners Newcastle Falcons, plus Worcester Warriors and Gloucester Rugby who qualified on Thursday, in the finals at Bath’s Recreation Ground.
The last places will be confirmed on Saturday when Saracens, London Wasps, London Irish and Harlequins play in the final group leg at Allianz Park.
Tigers, coached for the first time by Geordan Murphy kicked off their evening against Sale Sharks. And it was the Sharks who opened the scoring when Nathan Fowles’s quick penalty created enough room for him to dot down under the posts. Will Cliff converted.
Tigers hit back on the stroke of half-time. Harry Wells caught Sharks napping with a tap penalty and had Jake Farnworth on his shoulder to finish from close range. Tigers trailed 7-5 at the break.
Sale went down to six men with 90 seconds remaining when Cliff blocked George Tresidder as he chased his own chip ahead.
And Tigers made the man advantage count when Tahir el Mahdi dived in on the right to give Tigers a 10-7 lead and their first-ever win in the JP Morgan Premiership Rugby Sevens.
Tigers faced Newcastle in their second game, a meeting of the only unbeaten teams after the Falcons saw off Northampton 28-22 in their opening game.
Falcons raced into a 7-0 lead when Harrison Collins stepped out of a tackle to score on the right for a try converted by Tom Catterick.
Collins added a second when he darted down the side of a ruck before Catterick scored their third right on half-time to give Falcons a 19-0 lead at the break.
Tigers hit back at the start of the second-half when Pasqualle Dunn capitalised on a mistake by Catterick to score.
Their job was made more difficult by the sin-binning of Farnworth for holding on in the tackle, but Tigers kept Newcastle out with six men and when Farnworth returned to the action he was on hand to finish Tresidder’s blistering break. It was the final action of the game as Tigers lost 19-10.
Newcastle made sure of their 100 per cent winning record and top spot with a 12-5 win against Sale in their last pool game.
Going into the final game, Tigers were locked on four points with Northampton, who had secured try and losing bonus points in their two games. It meant that the winner would secure second spot and a place in the finals.
Saints threatened a try in the second minute through Tom Collins but he was brilliantly tackled by triallist Blaine Scully, who overturned the ball, and el Mahdi made the intervention pay. He collected possession and broke from inside his own half to score the game’s first try.
He scored a second try a minute before the break when he took possession on the right and forced his way through a couple of defenders to dot down. It gave Tigers a 10-0 lead at half-time.
Saints put points on the board early in the second period when Alex Day latched onto a kick through to score. But Tigers enjoyed much of the possession and territory and it needed a good tackle to stop Tresidder from going over at the left corner.
Tigers eventually made the pressure tell when David Williams scooted through in the final moments to secure a 17-5 victory and book a place in next Friday’s finals at Bath’s Recreation Ground.
