page_title: History of Leicester Tigers
section_title: Post Richards era (2004-08)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Leicester Tigers / History / Post Richards era (2004-08)
caption_attribution_description: English: Tom Croft playing for Leicester Tigers in 2012.
context_page_description: History of Leicester Tigers details the history of the rugby union club based in Leicester, England. Nicknamed the Tigers from 1885, Leicester have been a prominent club from the earliest days of organised English rugby dominating midlands rugby before the First World War; providing British Lions captains in 1930, 1936, 1997 and 2001; and winning 20 major titles since 1979 including a record 10 Premiership Rugby titles.
context_section_description: After Richards' departure Tigers turned to his assistant coach John Wells as temporary cover.  Wells' tenure saw Tigers fortunes improve and Heineken Cup qualification for the next season secured.  He was named as Richards' permanent successor on 28 April 2004 whilst Pat Howard and Richard Cockerill were announced as his assistant coaches.
  In John Wells' first full season in charge of the team Leicester finished the regular season top of the league, also progressing to the semi-final of the Heineken cup before defeat to Toulouse at the Walkers Stadium.  In Martin Johnson and Neil Back's last game for Leicester they lost the Premiership Final to Wasps.  After this game John Wells left Leicester to take up a position in the RFU's coaching academy, eventually rising to England forwards coach. He was succeeded by Pat Howard
  In 2005–06, the Tigers finished second to the Sale Sharks in the league before losing to the same team in the Premiership final. They again proceeded to the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup, again they lost at the Walkers Stadium to Bath. In the new Anglo-Welsh Cup Leicester won their group but lost in the semi-finals to Wasps at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
  Over the summer of 2006 the core of a new pack was recruited especially Jordan Crane, the Number 8, who arrived from Leeds; Martin Castrogiovanni joined from Calvisano and Marcos Ayerza joined from domestic rugby in his native Argentina.  Tom Croft also made his debut this season after coming through the club's academy system.
  Leicester won their first piece of silverware for five years on 15 April 2007, beating the Ospreys 41–35 with tries from Tom Varndell, Tom Croft, Ben Kay and Alesana Tuilagi to win the EDF Energy Cup at Twickenham Stadium. This was quickly repeated with Premiership success on 12 May at Twickenham with a 44–16 win over Gloucester. However Leicester failed to win an unprecedented treble, by losing the Heineken Cup Final at Twickenham on 20 May to Wasps.
  It was announced on 28 December 2006 that the head coach Pat Howard would leave the club at the end of the season, to return to his native Australia.  He was succeeded by the then-head coach of Argentina, Marcelo Loffreda after the 2007 Rugby World Cup.  Loffreda guided Leicester through the group stages of the EDF cup to the semi final where they defeated Wasps in a knock-out game for the first time since the 1980s.  This set up a rematch of the previous years final against the Ospreys, which Leicester lost. After losing all away games in the Heineken Cup that season Leicester failed to progress to the quarter finals.  In the league Leicester struggled until a last minute last day try by Tom Varndell beat Harlequins to set up a rematch of the previous seasons Premiership Final against Gloucester. Once again Leicester were successful late on, this time utilising Andy Goode's kicking to secure a last minute victory. In the final they had no such luck losing to perennial rivals Wasps. After this final; despite guiding Leicester to two Twickenham finals and only being in the job seven-months Loffreda was sacked.
caption: Tom Croft made his debut in 2006 after coming through the club's academy
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