Tigers hold the blueprint to keeping terror Tomkins in check

HE thrills Wigan supporters with his impish brilliance but instils opponents with dread, so how do Leeds Rhinos halt star Sam Tomkins in the Challenge Cup final? Dave Craven investigates.

With the fascinating enigma that is Sam Tomkins, pure statistics alone do not tell the full story.

He may have made more clean breaks than any other player in Super League this season, scored more tries and also broken more tackles but the slippery Wigan Warriors full-back is about far more than numbers alone.

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Undoubtedly, Tomkins has captured the imagination with his vast array of attacking qualities and rightly been lauded as Britain’s most exciting talent since Ellery Hanley.

If Leeds Rhinos are going to stand any chance of lifting the Carnegie Challenge Cup tomorrow, they must rein in the elusive England star, who has left coaches and opponents alike flummoxed by his sheer pace, incisiveness and unpredictably.

But achieving that is easier said than done. After all, there is a reason why, at 5-2, Tomkins is the shortest-price favourite to win the Lance Todd Trophy in the final’s entire 114-year history.

So, just how do you contain the mesmerising 22-year-old who has bewitched the game and, at times, seems uncatchable?

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One of the few teams to keep him relatively quiet was Castleford Tigers, who prevented Tomkins getting across the line last month and kept his piercing kick-returns largely in check.

“We had a bit of a plan and it worked,” Tigers coach Terry Matterson told the Yorkshire Post. “I don’t know if Sam had an off night but we did a really good job on him; maybe Leeds want to have a look at our game there and see what we did?

“Our kick-chase was really good that night. That’s the key – you can’t give him space, any space at all, because if you give him just a little bit, he takes it.

“We got numbers on him but you’ve got to be careful you don’t get them too tight because if you put too many on him it opens the way for the other guys.

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“When he comes into the line, you have got to come in to stop him but what Sam’s really good at is he bounces and he spins off.

“If guys don’t control him properly there, it’s dangerous; you simply must finish him off.”

A stunning side-step, ability to exploit the merest of gaps, rapid acceleration which leaves defenders trailing and an unexpected strength to shrug off any who do manage to get near, Tomkins relentlessly hurts sides.

People have talked glowingly about the thrilling play of Castleford stand-off Rangi Chase, someone seen as the only rival to Tomkins’s Man of Steel claims.

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Chase has definitely made a habit of annoying defences and is second in that tackles broken list with Tomkins leading with 159. However, the famously evasive Kiwi has managed ‘only’ 100 this season.

Wigan’s main strike weapon is similarly comprehensive when it comes to clean breaks; Tomkins has made 39, finding open space nearly twice as many times as his nearest challengers, Ryan Hall, Tom Briscoe and Jamie Foster – all wingers – on 22. Tomkins is Super League’s leading try-scorer with 26 and is second only to James Roby in metres made.

The St Helens hooker has amassed 4,852m, leaving Tomkins well behind on just 3,642m. However, a closer inspection shows the Wiganer achieved his feat in almost half the number of carries (468) to Roby (909), a frightening observation.

It is no surprise he brings fear and trepidation to opponents.

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Australian Matterson said: “Sam is as exciting a player as I’ve seen over here. He has a lot of Billy Slater about him.

“He probably isn’t as nice to watch as Billy because he steps and ducks but, wow, what a rugby league player.

“I’d love to see him in the NRL. I don’t know if that would be good for the game here but he’s just a wonderful player. He saves as many tries as he scores as well; they are the good full-backs.”

Indeed, Tomkins’s toughness is often overlooked in analysis while Matterson has praised the foresight of Wigan chief Michael Maguire’s for switching his role.

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“To move Sam from stand-off last year was a big gamble; he had Pat Richards playing full-back. Madge has taken that team to another level and Sam is going to be the best player in the comp’.

“We’ve got a pretty good player here in Rangi Chase but it’s going to be pretty hard to stop Sam.”