Sam Tomkins: I nearly signed for Saracens – but my brother was cheaper!

My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. This week, former Super League champion Sam Tomkins opens up about retirement, passing up the chance to switch rugby codes, Man of Steel and England’s Rugby League World Cup hopes. I’m really enjoying retirement It’s my second time around, so I knew what I was getting into. That’s what players probably struggle with a little bit, you know, going from professional sport into what’s the next role. But I’ve been lucky that I’ve been part of the Sky Sports team and I knew that I was going on to a broadcasting gig, staying in the sport. The only other thing that I’ve really wanted to get my teeth into, other than playing rugby, is the broadcasting of it. My knee for the last 12 months of my career was really bad It was a case of play a game, wake up the next morning and see how it felt. Generally, it was pretty bad and my focus was on the next game. Sometimes I had to miss a lot of training. I knew I could run, so I could roll myself out for 80 minutes, but that was it. Then I’d spend the rest of the week just managing what is a chronic knee. There was no operation to fix it. It’s a knee replacement that I needed. I’ve known that for a number of years now.Playing for the Barbarians at Twickenham was a great experience, but it was very, very random I played against Australia in Leeds on the Saturday before. And after the game, I was just out having a beer with the players, and my agent called me and said, ‘I’ve had a call from the Barbarians.’ They wanted me to play next week against the Wallabies at Twickenham. And I was out in a pub and I was like: “Yeah, sounds good.” Next morning, I woke up a bit dusty after probably one too many beers. And I was like, ‘Hold on, I need to phone him back. What was this about?’ And I called him, and he was like: “Well, you’ve agreed, and there’s a car going to be picking you up in an hour. It’ll drive you to London; you’re spending the week with the Barbarians.” It was bizarre at that point. I’ve never watched a game of rugby union. Never played a game; I knew nothing of it. But it was a great experience. Tomkins played his first ever game of union against Australia at Twickenham (Photo: Getty) The first training session with the Barbarians was an eye-opener Graham Henry was the coach. He just won the World Cup with the All Blacks. He named the team, and he said, Samuel, fullback. We’re just training in Hyde Park. I was just running around playing fullback as if I was in the league. And he called me over, and he said: “You’re really out of position here.” And I said: “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I will be; I don’t really know what I’m doing.” And he said: “What’s your what’s your normal position?” So I said: “Fullback, but in rugby league.” He said: “Yeah, but what’s your union position?” I said: “I’ve never played. I’m from this little town called Wigan and there’s no such thing as rugby union”. Peter Stringer, the Irish scrum-half and Danny Cipriani, the 10, said: “Look, just go on the wing; we’ll tell you where to be on what play”. It was like they were playing a computer game. I was just this figure getting told where to go. I do regret not making the switch to rugby union I think I could have been a decent union player and would have liked to see how I got on. I very nearly moved to Saracens earlier in 2011. The same time my brother Joel signed, I spoke to them. I told Wigan that I was ready to do something new. So they let me speak to the Saracens, and we did; we had a good chat and got to the point of signing. It was myself and Joel and then it sort of fell down at the transfer fee. Joel’s was a bit less than mine and so Joel looked like the better deal to just take him at the time. I very nearly went. Twelve months later, I still had that desire to do something different, and that’s why I ended up in the NRL. Read more Transfer news: St Helens close in on NRL hooker, Hull eye prop and Cas’s four-man shortlist Exclusive: Inside NRL’s £50m Super League plans – and two clubs opposing the deal Brad O’Neill at Wigan has been right at the forefront in the running for Man of Steel this season He’s been a top performer in a side that hasn’t lost for 15 weeks now. They’ve already won the Challenge Cup and the League Leader’s. Brad’s been right at the front of that and Jake Connor, it took him 30 years. He got to 30 years old and then we saw the best of him when Brad Arthur came in at Leeds and he’s performed again this year. Jake’s been pivotal in everything that Leeds have done well, so he stood out. And I really like Caleb Hamlin-Uele at Wakefield as well. The impact of having a big forward that’s so consistent. It’s a very difficult position prop forward to stamp your authority on a game because you know you’re very often rotated. Man of Steel: The Panel is available on Super League+. Watch it here.