unfortunately we live in an age where athletes deem it necessary to cheat at times. Now cheating comes in many forms ! example , drug abuse, biting on blood capsules, faining injury etc.! And while deliberately conning the ref to extract a unwarranted penalty is not as bad as those above, I still think that Tompkins antics of late do try to get an advantage by cheating, Its not nice! the fans dont want it ! and we dont want it to creep into our sport, so come on Wigan stop the little man doing it, and lets get back to playing in the game in the spirit the rules where meant to be played

I actually wanted the goons to win last night

until he cheated twice, then his brother kicking maguire and getting away with it. I suddenly changed my mind. We do not want this in our sport. Is he being coached to do this or is he doing it himself, either way it needs stamping on by the gutless refs.

Sometimes the word cheating is a little harsh and there are many incidents on the field where players try to gain an advantage by bending or breaking the rules. However most of these incidents are carried out in the 'heat of battle' and can be excused expected.

I do feel that this holding the tackler by Tompkins is a premeditated tactic designed by him or his coach and by that definition I believe does fall into the category of cheating. I think the crowd’s reaction and even the commentators last night showed that people are getting sick of it and want it stopped.

I'll defend the lad by saying he is a fine player and that in it’s self tells me he doesn't need to and shouldn't resort to this tactic.

Please stop it Mr Tompkins as I think it IS bringing the game into disripute.

The two of them have been developing quite a nasty reputation over the past few months. Joel is a penalty machine and Sam is just a nasty little cheat.

i'm undecided on Sam's antics, it could be called cheating, but its also professional, to do that to two international experienced players was very clever, and i dont see anything against it in the rules, it puts the tackling player in an impossible position, and is almost guaranteed to get a penalty whatever happens.
It's not in the spirit of the game, but if he won a penalty against the Ozzies doing the same to win us the 4 nations, how many of us would be upset?

Surely it's only cheating if it's against the rules, which it isn't? It is the tackler's responsibility to remove his arm from that position. If the tackler can't do that then he shouldn't have put his arm there in the first place.

Your complaint about "conning the ref" is completely untrue. The referee knows exactly what is going on, but since it's not against the rules what can he do?

Under the current rules Sam Tomkins has every right to do what he is doing, and of course it is rather successful so he's not likely to change. And of course the referees cannot do anything about it but penalise the tackler. Blaming Sam Tomkins by calling him a cheat is ridiculous.

I do understand that the hatred of Sam Tomkins by other teams' fans such as yourselves is largely down to his arrogance (required in a good half-back), and his high ability (that's why we Wiganers hate Keiron Cunningham so much!). That explains the majority of posts in this thread (and the majority of those on Leeds' board)!

I wouldn't necessarily be against changing those rules for next season, but it would then make it the referee's job to decide whether the tackler is deliberately leaving his arm there and pretending not to be able to extract it, and that may cause a lot more problems than the current situation.

The problem with the holding down is that it always goes against the defender. I don't think I've ever seen a penalty given against the attacking player for holding down and thereby not allowing the defender to leave the ruck. Is there a rule for that?

Shouldnt of put his hands there in the first place!!!! He was making a tackle, other than making sure his arm doesnt end up round the little cheats throat you cant expect him not to allow his armto get trapped when performing a tackle!!!

how is playing within the rules of the game cheating? please explain that to me

I've seen plenty of players in the past (and still continue to see it now) holding the defender down in order to win a penalty - and none have been subject to the witch hunt that is now starting to develop now.

Whether sam deliberatly doesn't let a defender take his arm away is not on the same scale as a player deliberately holding onto a players shirt and not letting him get up - at the end of the day -sam still has a responsibility to keep hold of the ball and I still haven't seen any definitive proof of Sam deliberately trapping a poor unsuspecting defenders arm which was previously uninvolved in the tackle.

I think the witch hunt is developing because Sam Tomkins is an extremely good player and fans of all the other clubs would like to see him curtailed because they don't have a Sam Tomkins in their side.

Of course I don't like it when he or anyone else does that kind of thing when they are playing against us, but I did rather like seeing Sinfield get a strop on after he'd been had by Mr T. It made me smile.

Why is everyone implying Tomkins is the only player who does this. Are you all so influenced by what a football supporter on sky decides to highlight. It is commonplace including a number of your players using it this season and a 'tactic' i have seen on many of the televised games involving all teams

It is something along with many other 'cheats' that should be taken out of our game. To ask a player not to cheat is virtually impossible. No one would ever be offside, or hold down for a start.

As for bringing the game into disrepute try starting with Mclennans post match coments about the 'cheat' Danny Maguire (get well soon)

There's nothing new in this. Hanley got away with it for years.

I'm sure i've seen penalties given for it in the past.

Thats easy. If he knows whats going on, he can when he sees it allow players additional time to untangle themself from Tomkin's arm.

He is cheating; he knows exactly what he is doing and if he does it against the convicts and gets away with it, I'll probably think well done. I don't for a minute think he will get away with in Oz / NZ. Their refs are not quite as forgiving as ours (unless of course you are called Mason and you want to punch another player).

Beause though it may not be written in the rules doing something like that to gain an unfair advantage over an opponent is cheating. Think about it before criticising my beliefs.

Sam conned the ref twice. If we can all see it, the ref should be smart enough to spot it.
He can either just not give a penalty, meaning that Wigan get a slow play, or he can warn and the penalise Sam for holding the tackler.

We're getting on his back because he does it quite frequently, one or twice, it wouldn't be as noticed, but he's been doing it every time I've seen them on sky, and still he gets away with it, that's why people are "witch hunting" him.

At the end of the day it's down to the refs - pretty much everyone knows he does it now so the refs should just either let it go and just let Sam slow his own team down or penalise him (ungentlemanly conduct maybe?).. he'd soon stop doing it.

How can the ref allow additional time? The time that a tackler has to get away from the tackle is specified in the rules. If the ref allows more than that then he is not applying the rules of the game. which is his job out there.

You could argue that the rules should be changed, which is a reasonable standpoint (bearing in mind the consequential difficulties that could arise from that), but criticising Sam Tomkins for playing to the rules shows that you are probably arguing this point just because it is Sam Tomkins. I understand that (I dislike Leon Pryce for example, partly for how he plays, but mostly because he is so good

) but it is not the basis for a solid argument.

I've seen it from others though, Ablett from leeds, for example. Players are getting more proffesional, refs need to keep up.

Christ!

All teams and all players try and get away with as much as they can - just because sam has been highlighted on TV by a commentator who can't tell the difference between Tommy L and Piggy in slow motion everyone is going crazy about it.

Players are constantly trying to push the ball out of the attackers hands in a multiple tackle to make it look like a knock on - that's conning the ref - shouldn't we start a witchhunt on that?

Defenders constantly stand with one foot over the try line when they should have both on it when they think the ref isn't looking - thats conning the ref - should we start a witchhunt over that.

Some players claim for a try when they are nowhere near grounding the ball - again conning the ref - witchhunt anyone?

Or shall we wait until Eddie comes up with his next petty thing to go on about and follow that like sheep for a while?

Completely agree with this post, players have and always will push the boundaries and try to get away with what they can, if the ref can't determine what is happening then a player will fill his boots. Its not like its a new thing, players have done it for years. Eddie is getting more annoying as the years go by, they need to hand over to Mr Carney who just gets better.

you're just showing a lack of knowledge of the rules of the game, your "beliefs" are irrelevant! Tompkins played to the rules and should be applauded, noone has yet said what he's supposed to have done wrong???

It's against the rules to interfere with a defender's movement after a tackle is completed and is classed as obstruction. If it's not illegal, why not just hold a defender on top of you for 20 minutes if you're in front in a game?

Incidentally, I would imagine what McGuire did is also classed as obstruction, yet seems to warrant a ruptured knee in the eyes of plenty of Wigan fans.