Varndell returned to the Tigers in 2004, and made a quick impact in the
Premiership. In his second appearance with the Tigers senior side, he recorded the fastest
hat trick of tries in Premiership history, doing so in a 13-minute span against
Worcester. He finished the
2005-06 Guinness Premiership regular season, top of the try list with 14. Also in 2005, Varndell made his debut for both national teams within one week. On 26 November, he came on as a replacement and scored a try against
Manu Samoa at
Twickenham in his first full 15-man international.
Saxons coach
Steve Bates was keen for him to put pressure on first team selection. Varndell was selected for the 2008 summer tour to
New Zealand and started in the 2nd test against New Zealand in Christchurch, which England lost 44–12. Varndell did, however, score a try for his team which was his third try in four appearances for the senior England squad. As of the start of the 2013/14 season, he was the Aviva Premiership's third all-time top try scorer with 75 tries, behind the retired Steve Hanley (78) and the then all-time leader, Sale Sharks wing Mark Cueto (90). On 7 January 2015, it was announced that Varndell was to move to
Bristol, competing in the
RFU Championship for the 2015–16 season. On New Year's Day, 2017, Varndell equalled Mark Cueto's Premiership tries record of 90 tries by scoring against Sale Sharks. This followed a hat-trick in the previous week against
Worcester Warriors. On 10 February 2017, Varndell scored for Bristol against Harlequins to surpass Cueto's record. He scored once more for Bristol to finish the 2016-2017 Premiership Rugby season with 92 tries. In 2018, following a brief stint in Wales with
Scarlets, Varndell moved to French second division side
Soyaux Angoulême XV Charente on a two-year contract scoring once in a 31–18 loss to Brive. But his move to France was cut short, due to family reasons. Varndell signed with Leicester Tigers in January 2019. This was his second stint with the club, following his time at the Tigers from 2004 to 2009. On 6 March 2019, Varndell travelled to
Hong Kong to play for
South China Tigers as part of the
Global Rapid Rugby series. He returned to England to sign a one-year contract with
Yorkshire Carnegie in the
RFU Championship for the 2019–20 season. On 15 May 2020, Varndell signed a contract to join Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club for the season 2020/2021 as player/coach. The move was negotiated by Terry Sands of Samurai, sports apparel manufacturer, who said:"He always has time for people and it will be all about what some of our players aspirations are, as they will be able to speak to him and soak up all his knowledge and experience." He added: "It is fantastic for the club and it is fantastic for our supporters, including all of our volunteers and sponsors that have supported the club over the years." ==References==