A very talented player, he's just what we need off the bench for England at the moment IMO

3 wiganers in the England RU side. Don't know whether that's a good or bad thing.

To have 3 young lads leaving to Union for me is a bad thing,but it shows how strong Wigan/rugby league is when within 2 years they are in the England side.

I'd be surprised if he gets more then 3 or 4 touches.

Hope it's not too cold for him.

Agreed and yet I just heard his snivelling interview on Radio 2 in which he says it's going to be a 'big step up from international rugby league'

In monetary terms maybe.
BTW, anyone hear Clive Woodward on 5Live last night? Let slip he'd been "watching" Sam before he finally decided on NRL. Who was he scouting for do we think?

They all play a significant part in the booming England set up, a lot of stuart lancaster coaching has a big rugby league background to it as well. will be interesting to see if Joel can establish him self as first team regular for England as they do have a lot of good up coming .

They all say that, its like they don't want to upset somebody or some organization i wonder who that is?

. Sonny bill William's has on record said rugby league is tougher no doubt in 2 years he will reverse that comment.

The RFU for a centrally funded contract, they would of loved to take rugby league poster boy again.

I thought I had heard that incorrectly so I am glad someone else mentioned it. If I remember rightly didn't he say a big step up in[i intensity[/i?

If so Sam should put him in his place! A big step up intensity from playing the Aussies in an RL test match or world cup? Yeah right.



I know RU players are full time these days but the game just has too many stoppages while they set the scrums umpteen times, take line outs and kick penalties for it to me more intense. Plenty of opportunities to rest.

i noticed Joel Tomkins body shape is a lot different from his last season at wigan just doesn't look as muscular, there is some big bodies playing in union but fitness wise it will never be on the same level.

Not sure of the exact figures but isn't the average actual ball in play time for RU something like 30-35 minutes, compared to something like 55 minutes for RL. Not sure how standing round for an extra 20 minutes leads to extra intensity?

All the focus seems to have been on Joel in the last couple of days, yesterday on Radio 1 sport news there was an interview with both Tomkins' and the questioning to Joel was mostly if Sam would be jealous of him playing at Twickenham.

Union has a much bigger global standing than League but to have the audacity to say its more intense is a joke.He hasn't even played for the England Union team,and never played against the ozzies/kiwis in league.

Did he not play in a Four Nations?

It'll all die down after the weekend. As has been mentioned earlier, he's just doing a bit of brown-nosing to curry favour. Plus there may be some brotherly needle directed at Sam & Logan(

) - I'm sure they'll have picked up on what's been said.

Whatever we feel about the fact that they are plying their trade in the wrong code isn't it a cause for great pride that Wigan lads are dominating the England RU set up as well as the English RL scene. Just shows what a great nursery of rugby talent the little town of Wigan has become.

Thought he played a couple of exiles games only but just checked and he played the 4 nations over in oz against the ozzies and kiwis

Surprised the RL world cup is getting mentioned at all to be honest! That said to be fair I think the reports I have seen or heard over the last couple of days have not skimped on the RL side but I do wonder if Joel didn't have such a high profile brother playing in the RL world cup whether it would have got as many mentions.

Better of the 3 brothers, brought more benefit to the team when playing for us and had / still has more potential of the three in my opinion.

that sounds ridiculous considering Sam is the poster boy for RL and on many occasions came to our rescue, but I still stand by my comments.

signed....
Paul Wellens.

ha!!! seriously though, I do mean those comments.

Joel actually says that he would'nt say one code is tougher than the other, just different.

He goes on to say the in League your hart rate is consistently high, but in union it is much more variable, but you have to be alert to the changes in pace - so the mental concentration may be higher.

Union players seem to bang on about the mental concentration, and the skill of the game, and a thinkings man rugby rather than 5 drives and a kick thick head league.

When it's all total BS. Anyone who has played or knows both codes will know that making a decision is far more difficult at speed, more difficult when under pressure and more difficult when physically drained. All of which relate more to League than Union.

So what about the tactics of a game? League require breaking down a line of players, union often has a broken line due to the kicking and number of men, mainly forwards who are part of the ruck, here it's easier to find space and gaps in a line. League requires more ball movement and skill to break down a solid line.

Union now knows it can't pretend to as fast or intense as league, so they come up with this.

If Union wasn't as well protected by the London Media (which controls the nation) and the public school boys, fans would have spotted the differencies between the codes long before now.

I feel having all the league games on Prem Sports is either an own goal by the RFL or possibly once again the the national networks not offering a strong deal and promoting the sport, in favour of having England RU v Oz.

If RL had the right people in charge, had people with gusto and drive which could market league correctly, it would blitz union, at the end of the day, as a sport there's no comparison

I once heard the difference described as when a league player & union player are given colouring books & crayons, they'll both have a go but the union guy will manage to keep inside the lines.

If the crayons had been thrown to the players instead of being handed to them the yawnion guy would have been the one who dropped them

The union player would also be the only one to devise an aftermatch game based around inserting the crayons into his team mates.

The union guy would also be the one sat
underneath the ceiling with crayon marks on it
and all his crayon broken, from constantly kicking them!!