Long before their move to Coventry, this Wasps team captured the club's second European Cup in four years. So what happened to the class of '07?
The unfancied Londoners, champions in 2004, out-thought and outmuscled the Treble-chasing Tigers in front of a record crowd for a club game of 81,076.
Wasps scored first-half tries from scrum-half Eoin Reddan and hooker Raphael Ibanez and Alex King kept the scoreboard ticking after the break.
Here is what happened to the full XV:
FULLBACK: DANNY CIPRIANI
When Cipriani made his England debut in 2008 aged 20 he was touted as a great hope for the future and expected to be there or thereabouts at fly-half for years to come. But the 13 caps he won in that years remain, to date, his only international honours. In the summer of 2010 he joined the Melbourne Rebels before he returned to England in 2013, signing a three-year deal with Sale. He then rejoined Wasps in 2016 but will depart the Ricoh in the summer.
DID YOU KNOW: Cipriani is mixed-race; his father is Afro-Trinidadian with some Italian heritage while his mother is English.
WINGER: PAUL SACKEY
He was selected as part of England's squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup and went on to be the team's top try scorer with four. The winger maintained his prolific record, scoring three tries during the 2008 Six Nations. In February 2010, Sackey announced that he would be leaving Wasps to take up a lucrative contract with French Top 14 side Toulon before joining Stade Francais 2011. Two years later he ended his career with Harlequins.
DID YOU KNOW: He is an expert on the life of Cicero, and published a monograph on his role in the fall of the Roman Republic in 2008.
OUTSIDE-CENTRE: FRASER WALTERS
The man of the match in the final, Waters left
Wasps at the end of May 2008 to play for
Treviso in Italy and hung up his boots there in 2012.
DID YOU KNOW: He was widely credited with orchestrating Wasps' renowned "blitz defence"
INSIDE-CENTRE: JOSH LEWSEY
The 2003-World Cup winner retired completely from the game in 2009 before making a short comeback in 2011 for Wasps. Took over as the Head of Rugby at the Welsh Rugby Union in September 2013 following his brief tenure as acting CEO of Cornish Pirates. He resigned in November 2015, citing personal reasons which would prevent him from dedicating himself to the position full-time.
DID YOU KNOW: Lewsey graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2001 and was commissioned as a troop commander into the Royal Artillery
WINGER: TOM VOYCE
2009 brought about the end of Voyce’s Wasps career as he moved to Gloucester. He had two successful seasons with the Cherry and Whites winning the EDF Energy trophy before joining London Welsh in 2012 for one final Premiership season before hanging up his boots. Voyce now works at Investec Bank Plc www.investec.co.uk/privatefx
DID YOU KNOW: His great uncle, Thomas Anthony Voyce, won 27 caps for England and went on to become the president of the RFU between 1960 and 1961.
FLY-HALF: ALEX KING
After retiring shortly after the final he worked as a backs coach with
ASM Clermont Auvergne. At the end of 2012 it was announced that he would go to
Northampton Saints as their backs coach for the start of the 2013/14 season. For the
2017 Six Nations Championship, he has assumed the role of attack coach for the
Wales national rugby union team. He's since joined Vern Cotter's backroom staff at Montpellier.
DID YOU KNOW: He won only five caps for England
SCRUM-HALF: EOIN REDDAN
He helped Wasps to the Guinness Premiership title the following year, making 125 appearances in total for the club, before signing for Leinster at the start of the 2009/10 season. At Leinster, Reddan played a significant role in driving the province to two Heineken Cup successes, an Amlin Challenge Cup and two PRO12 titles. He made 140 appearances for Leinster, the last of which came in the 2016 GUINNESS PRO12 final.
DID YOU KNOW: He won 71 Ireland caps
LOOSEHEAD-PROP: TOM FRENCH
Despite playing the Heineken Cup final French was limited to just 39 appearances at Wasps, with a serious Achilles injury hampering his time. He impressed up against Leicester's powerful scrummager
Julian White, a current England international. French went on to join part-time side Barking in the National League One where he was forwards coach, providing him with an ideal opportunity to pursue his off-field career. He did briefly join London Welsh too.
DID YOU KNOW: The Heineken Cup final was only his second ever Wasps appearance
HOOKER: RAPHAEL IBANEZ
On his 36th birthday, 17 February 2009, Ibanez announced his retirement from all rugby as a player. He suffered a
concussion in a Wasps; match against
Worcester Warriors in September 2008, and suffered further head injuries in two later games. Whilst completing a two-month rest period, he continued to suffer symptoms from his injuries during training sessions, and ended his playing career on medical advice.
DID YOU KNOW: In his spare time he enjoys fly-fishing and extreme sports like rock climbing and kayaking.
TIGHTHEAD-PROP: PHIL VICKERY
Captain of the (almost successful) 2007 World Cup squad. Retired in 2010 due to neck injuries. Won the 2011 series of Celebrity Masterchef before working as a co-commentator at the 2011 Rugby World Cup for ITV.
DID YOU KNOW: He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire in 2015
LOCK: SIMON SHAW
The lock put in a monumental shift for the club between 1997 and 2011 and played a key part in all the club success in this period. A record 339 games for the club, 25 tries and that iconic drop-goal he slotted against Bath in 2000. He went onto play for Toulon between 2011 and 2013 before hanging up his boots. He is now director of Rugby Hospitality company
Set Piece Events.DID YOU KNOW: Shaw became the first player ever to play in 200 Premiership matches
LOCK: TOM PALMER
The second-row signed for Stade Français in the summer of 2009 before returning to
Wasps from France on a two-year deal for the next season. In
2014 it was announced that Palmer would join
Gloucester Rugby at the end of the season.
He later joined Italy region Benetton Treviso in the
Pro12 from the 2015-16 season before ending his career as a medical joker for French club
Bordeaux Begles in the
Top 14 for the rest of the 2016-17 season.
DID YOU KNOW: He has a degree in physics
FLANKER: JOE WORSLEY
He made his third World Cup in 2007, making five appearances including a replacement bow in the final loss to South Africa. He toured New Zealand with England in the summer of 2008 before winning a call-up into their squad for the 2009 Six Nations. He was selected for the 2009 Lions tour of South Africa and missed the first two Test defeats but started the third Test victory in Johannesburg. After retiring in 2011, Worsley is now the defence coach of French top 14 team
Bordeaux Begles.
DID YOU KNOW: Worsley joined Wasps at the age of 16 and soon became the youngest player to represent England U21 after helping England Schools to a Grand Slam in 1995.
FLANKER: TOM REES
On 10 March 2012, Rees was forced to retire from Rugby on the advice he received after sustaining a knee injury. The back-rower is now currently pursuing a career in medicine at Imperial College.
DID YOU KNOW: He represented England at senior, Under-21, Under-19, Under-18 and Under-16 levels
NUMBER 8: LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO
Retired in 2008 helping Wasps win the Guinness Premiership final at a sold-out Twickenham in his last professional game. He went on to work as an analyst for ITV during the 2011 Rugby World Cup and co-commentated on the semi-final match between Australia and New Zealand before setting up the Dallaglio Foundation which has raised millions of pounds for charity through gruelling cycling challenges. Now BT Sport’s lead rugby union expert.
DID YOU KNOW: In the early 1990s he turned down an invitation to play for Ireland