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Joel Tomkins signs for Hull KR

Joel Tomkins has signed for Hull Kingston Rovers until the end of the 2019 season.

It was announced Tomkins had left Wigan Warriors by mutual consent following a video of him being abusive to local bar appearing on social media.

The forward had been suspended for four weeks by the Warriors and fined £10,000.

Robins head coach Tim Sheens commented on the signing of Tomkins, saying: “We’ve been actively looking to strengthen the side for the back end of the season, whether that be securing a top-eight finish or retaining our place in Super League via the Qualifiers, and Joel adds a lot of big game experience to the squad which will be vital in some of the key matches which lie ahead,”

“He’s played at the highest level in both codes and won silverware in the Challenge Cup, Super League and World Club Challenge, so there’s a lot of knowledge there that he can add to the side and at 31 he’s still got a lot of rugby ahead of him.

“We’re fully aware of what’s gone on over the past week or so, but I’ve spoken to a lot of people who know Joel well and they all agree that the incident was out of character for him.

“He’ll get an opportunity to redeem himself with us and we’ll be working closely with him to ensure he takes it with his actions on and off the field.”

Tomkins added:  “I’m sure everybody is aware of what’s gone on at Wigan and I accepted the punishment from them,”

“After sitting down with my family and thinking a bit harder about it, I decided that the best thing for all parties would be for me to leave the club and I offered my resignation to Kris Radlinski, which he accepted.

“I instructed my agent to look into a deal elsewhere and there were a few other Super League clubs that were interested as well as Rovers, but Tim called me personally and really sold the club to me, both for the back end of this year and next season.

“After a 10-minute conversation with him, my mind was made up.

“I’m really grateful to Tim and everybody else involved at Hull KR for giving me the opportunity to move on from this.

“It has been embarrassing for me, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s a sad situation for me to leave Wigan in this way, but it’s also an opportunity for me to move to a club that’s on the rise and that has some big plans moving forward.

“I’m genuinely excited to be a part of that.”

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