Sam Tomkins

Sam Tomkins

Samuel Levi Tomkins (born 23 March 1989) is an English professional rugby footballer who plays rugby league for Wigan in Super League.

Tomkins was born in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. After his family moved north in the early 1990s, he started playing for Chorley Panthers amateur club when he was aged seven. In order to develop his career further, Tomkins' family moved to Wigan where he played for Wigan St. Patrick's, before receiving a scholarship from Wigan with whom he signed a full-time contract at the end of 2007. In 2008 he played for Wigan in the Challenge Cup, becoming the first rugby league player to score five tries in a first-grade debut. He is the younger brother of Joel Tomkins, who played for Wigan from 2005 to 2011 before switching to rugby union.

2009 would prove to be Tomkins' breakthrough year. He made his league debut against Harlequins RL and made 27 appearances during the season, scoring 15 tries. He established himself as Wigan's first choice stand-off, and was named in the Super League Dream Team, as well as receiving the club's own Player of the Year and the Super League's Young Player of the Year awards. In 2010, Tomkins switched from stand-off to fullback under Wigan's new head coach Michael Maguire, also appearing occasionally at scrum-half. That season, Wigan won its first league title since 1998; it was Tomkins' first honour as a player. Appearing in every game of Wigan's 2010 season, he retained his place in the Dream Team, and also received the Rugby League International Federation's Rookie of the Year award.

Tomkins scored a hat-trick against Wales during his international debut, and appeared a further three times for England in 2009 at the Four Nations, in which he played in the tournament's final. In a Test match mid-way through the 2010 season, Tomkins equalled the record for most tries scored in a single match by an England player when he scored four against France. In the Four Nations later that year, Tomkins appeared in all three of England's matches as the team failed to progress past the first round. He also participated for England in the inaugural International Origin against the Exiles in 2011.