I think RL is England winning a couple of world cups plus an extra 20 years away from mass exposure in this country.

I remember RL being touted as "the sport of the 90's" at the turn of that decade. 20 years on, no further on than we were then. Granted, we've won nothing of note internationally in that time.

at the press conference and media sessions what do you think Sam will say when he is asked "why did you want to play in this Rugby Union match"?

Miles away then

Union is not the well known game some make out. When England won the world cup Chester RUFC had too many kids turning up to play they game they could not cope. It didn't last and by the end of the season after it was back to normal. It gets noticed for the World Cup and the Six nations. The rest of the time its largely ignored pretty much in the same way RL is and is followed by the sports own fans rather than the general sporting public.

I reckon most people outside the game could more readily name a current F1 driver than they could an RU player.

You hit the nail on the head there. Its not more than 20 miles from League heartland. I'm sure it would have been different if it was down South.

www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby/rug ... -23576988/ We might as well terminate his contract IMO With that agent and his attitude he will never be focused on RL only

www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby/rug ... -23576988/ We might as well terminate his contract IMO With that agent and his attitude he will never be focused on RL only

This whole Tomkins saga is becoming very worrying, there is no way he should be allowed to play on saturday. The club should assert control over him and if it doesn't suit and he wants out let him go. I have supported Wigan for 65 years and seen many super stars come and go, none of them proved irreplacable but quite a few caused upsets in the club by their prima donna attitude, not least the Blessed Andy Farrel who I suspect of being heaily involved in the Tomkins saga

I would tell them to take logan as well because we dont need the tomkins brothers hanging around are young players with the attitude sam and joel seem to have no doubt if logan was someone that had RU attributes he would be with jame grant management and gone to, may same harsh but we need to be like this. Also i would ban sam from making a return to RL if RU turns sour no good being all lovely dovy now we look like right idiots all headlines "sam set for code switch" thats not good publicity at all

This may already have been asked - I can't be bothered going through the whole thread, but I'm wondering what the insurance situation is if Tomkins suffers a crippling injury? I'd love to know who by, and by how much Wigan will be compensated.

I totally agree with your assessment, by the way. This reflects very poorly on Tomkins and his agent. What is it - two weeks since he tied his future to Wigan, and he's already flirting with the other code again. If this actually happens, can these two ever really be trusted to keep their word on anything?

If I was IL, I would do everything in my power to stop this, and if that means he has a sniffy, peed-off player on his hands for the next three years then so be it. That doesn't matter. All that matters is Wigan RL and how they prep for rnext year. Mickey Mouse RU circus matches aren't even on the radar.

Some players are very good at enjoying the perks of mega-contracts, but seem to be less keen to take on the responsibilties. It's time we took a stand against this attitude.

We don't live far from Chester & I can tell you that it might as well be 100 miles from the heartland. There's a smattering of League fans who are probably, like me, from an RL town originally - but other than that very little awareness. DaveO is right - Union is more popular at a playing level, though this is largely due to the excellent club structures emanating from the grammar/public school system - but it's a fraction of the kids playing football, & interest in club RU is practically nil.

The public gets behind a winning RU team the same way it gets behind a winning Ashes cricket team, but the only true national sport is footy.

Lenaghan needs to grow a pair. This stinks of pandering to ickle Sam and IL should point out the size of the club he's playing for and to treat the club and the game of RL with the respect it deserves.

He could start by spending Saturday resting up or practicing catching high balls rather than playing union on TV.

I imagine he will have to mime at training given his contract says he can't speak to union? Yeah, right Ian.

Let's hope he tears the ocker rah-rah's a new ar$ehole.

That will be great that make his head a bit bigger. If he did that we will benifit nothing at all from it. Sam does not care about RL Wigan or the fans can you not see that now.

What I do know is that, again, there's stuff about this all over the Internet & the TV news - everywhere that is, except the official site. I've said it in another thread, but recently we've had confirmation of the Joel & Tommy moves on other sites before our own, and here we have speculation throughout the weekend on all media outlets & not even a holding statement on our own.

What I find strange is that IL clearly has a good head for business, and a strategic direction, but the equivalent of Corporate Comms for the club is woeful. We don't seem to have got away from the concept of a website to sell shirts & tickets. Be honest, is it anyone's first port of call when they want information about the club? I suspect not, in which case the club isn't controlling it's own information, it's reacting to others & that's not good management.

Ah yes, I can now you have put it so expertly. I retract any previous comments on the subject.

Just to get everyone's dander up a little [url=http://www.barbarianfc.co.uk/news/498/barbarians-assemble-squad-of-all-the-talents-at-twickenham/more[/url



I heard this news last week from a few sources and my immediate reaction was, "I'll look forward to watching that".

Good luck to him. He's been given a great opportunity to show what he can do on a big international stage, something sadly he cannot do in Rugby League. He's pledged to play for us for the next few seasons, so why deny him a chance of this big occasion in our off season? I fail to see where playing for the Barbarians 3 months before our season even kicks off imply's that he doesn't care about Wigan RL. Yep he may get injured... but he could fall over drunk and break his leg, so should we tell him he can't go out socially aswell because it means he isn't caring about Wigan?



I hope he tears them apart and shows just what Rugby League can produce.

They already know what we can produce. That's why they're all over us like a f***ing rash.

Exactly, it staggers me that people can't see this and IL is looking like a right mug, being played along by one player. He should tell him to rest up and stop dreaming about union for the time being, unless he'd like to hand his massive pay rise back.

I love how this board is chock full of people complaining about the salary cap making union attractive to our best, but then supporting our best players going to play union at Twickenham! Could there be an atmosphere more likely to make the mind up of a young RL player than sending them off to Twickenham to get chatted up by the whole of the RFU?

Absolutely ridiculous, and there are some hugely gullible Wigan fans on this thread. You may think this is a plus for the sport of RL somehow, what it actually is is hugely belittling the week after the four nations final.

In the year 2000 I had to use a solicitor and after we had finished we got talking about RL.
It turned out that he was a director of Saints,he came out with a statement which at the time shocked me a bit. He said that within 10 years there would only be one code,either Union or an Hybrid game.
I know it is now 11 years since that was said and the said Director is no longer with us,but stranger things have happened.
Recent events.
Joel Tomkins to Saracens.
Wigan announce tie up with Saracens with a view to an exchange of ideas,maybe in some cases exchange of young players and a crosscode match. IL also said that closer ties with Union could prove to be benificial to both sides.
Now Sam Tomkins being put forward for a Barbariuns match.
Trial Hybrid matches have already taken place in Australia.
Like I said stranger things have happened.

As the previous poster said silence from the club will only lead to even more speculation.

Why is this news on every other freakin' news and social sites, but there is ball on the supposedly official club site? It's disgraceful.

How long a close season break is Tomkins going to have this year? That would be my concern as a Wigan fan.

I seem to recall that Wigan were going for warm weather training mid-December and this was to be the "beasting" period. That could mean a two week break from playing, three at best.

1 week less than all the other players who have been involved in the four nations?...

Briscoe and Yeaman dont go back to training for Hull until January.

I think there is a little over reaction to this story, but that is bound to happen due to the dubious link up between Wigan and Saracens.

I personally hope that Sam rips it up and then in the interview after the game bigs up Rugby League