And what do you think of Sinfields "performance"

Just been on SSN, they're saying official announcement tomorrow.
Not at all happy, he should have his feet up now.

He will play more union games over the next 3 years now.

his contract is a mockery!

if sam wants to play union then just go, dont do this few games a season BS!!

I agree with you its a complete joke every interview with him always goes back to union. If he is serious about RL he could start by getting rid of that james grant management as long as he is with them they wont leave him alone but it looks like he just wants to go to rugby union with how hes going about things.

Dubai round for the IRB Sevens starts 2nd December.

Sam is taking to out of us to be honest and straight after he give him a new contract

Surely IL has some balls to say no to this, if he plays then we may aswell accept he will be mot be at wigan in 2013, contract or not

What happens if he plays and gets injured badly in a ruck after returning a ball? You know the aussies will be after him no doubt and ruck him over and over

All this does is promote rugby union

I find it a sign of arrogance from the kid myself. Why would he want to play in a "nothing" game of RU only weeks after he agrees a contract with a massive wage increase ([iwhich had to have the cap rules changed for it to happen![/i)??

He clearly wants the money and status that is in rugby union, and as others have said for 3 years he will milk Wigan for just short of £1mil, then swan off to RU on a mega bucks contract. What a joke.

Also, as a club I think Wigan are doing the dirty on the fans. It's okay saying it will bring publicity to the game (which is won't) or the club (which it won't) but lets just say Tomkins gets an injury that puts him out of action for 8 months. The club are risking their best player by allowing him to do this. Also, the RFL should have stopped it. They clearly value Tomkins in this code giving how the cap was changed for him, yet they are allowing him to play under another governing body for one game??!! What a joke, just emphasises that whilst rugby league may be the best game in the world, as a sport it is an utter farce.

Great post. Even if Sam said he wanted to play, the club should have said no. He is not bigger then the club!

As for the RFL, there silence is embarrassing! Grow some balls and tell the barbarians and sam tomkins that he is not playing!

It must be RU causing mischief and it's actually Joel who will be playing.

It can't be possible that Sam would be allowed to play.

This thread shows there are good and bad points to this whole thing. As fans we're just going to have to accept it and just hope he doesnt get injured (and also hope he doesnt enjoy it!)

I do get the feeling there is a chance Sam is getting too big for his boots. Hopefully Wane will be able to bring him back to earth with a bang.

Let's hope if Sam does play he hardly touches the ball and gets injured after being trampled on in a ruck. Just 6 weeks out so he's fit in the new year, had a good rest and ready for the start of the new season.

It'll remind him what a poor game RU is generally, will remind the club not to bend over backwards without lube just because Sam's agent said so and be a warning to Sam to don't take the urine.

Let's also remember he's not the first Wigan player to play RU for another club while still contracted to us.

People seem to be forgetting that the RFL changed the rules for Sam a week or so ago lol!!

I really can't see him having a good game to be honest as soon as he is tackled Australia will have a penalty because Sam didn't follow the 17 steps of rules to play the ball. God help him in the rucks to a bunch of overweight blokes lying on top of him, is this really what you want Sam?

Sorry, but I don't see any good points in this. We're kidding ourselves if we think it will raise the profile of RL. The media have largely ignored the sport for 100+ years - 1 game from Sam, no matter how well he played, would not change that. Jason Robinson was one of the biggest stars of recent Union history, yet you'd never know that he'd ever played League - it didn't help the games' profile one bit.

A few posters have mentioned that we'd be compensated if he was injured. What use would that be? It's not like we can just go & buy another Sam, and anyway, injured players are still paid & therefore still count towards the cap. We've already had dispensation to adjust the cap to keep Sam in League. If he then got injured weeks later arsing around playing Union, we'd get precious little sympathy from the RFL, and frankly we'd deserve none.

For a club to risk one of it's key players by not only letting him play a different sport (for which he's had zero preparation), but also a sport which actively wants to persuade him to leave his existing club, is madness.

I only hope this is pure media hype, because if true I'd be very disappointed in the club & him.

This is not good,not good at all.

Wigan should tell the RFU to get stuffed and stay away from our players.

Not certain but has Sam said he wants to play in the game,if he does his heart is elsewhere IMO.

God I am depressed now.

Wigan appear to have embraced Union with open arms when the exact opposite should occur, there are zero benefits from being linked to Union and we did it at a time when the RFU are head hunting rugby league talent.

WTF?

tell 'em to do one!

OR

Lets do an exchange for Tindell...a one off match...some second rate royals at the DW would do wonders for us (RL) in the broad sheets.

Very good point about Jason Robinson. The media never mention his Wigan days, his RL career is totally ignored.

Like you mate, I dont get why some fans think this is a good idea and how it will raise Wigan and Rugby League's profile. It is never gonna happen!

Why have the club not come out and made a statement yet??

spot on comments

Rugby union players have a high profile? Erm, there's what's-his-name who's married to that horsey royal, that one who shagged Kelly Brook, him off QoS who looks like Darren Lockyer... they're hardly household names are they?

Every one in England knows who Jonny Wilkinson is conversely how many people know the name Paul Sculthorpe? Union is a lot bigger than league unfortunately and your deluding your self if you don't think Union stars have a big presence in the media and are widely recognized.

A few wigan fans make out RU players are up there with wayne rooney and david beckham.

there is this myth that if you play RU you become as a big household name. The majority if the England RU team would be able to walk the streets of the UK and not be recognized.

The thing is with Jonny he won the RU world cup which got him most of his publicity. If we could win the RLWC i think we would have players with a big profile. No one out of the current England RU squad has a massive profile IMO but if they won the world cup they would of got the attention jonny had so for any league player wanting to switch and be like sir jonny they need to win a world cup and be a big part of winning it to be like jonny, coming from league i dont think you will ever get the profile of jonny due to being a RL lad from the north look at jason robinson he scored the try but hes not half as famous a jonny

Put Jonny Wilkinson in a room full of other Oxbridge types, and see how many people could pick him out.