“Not a real top player” – Sam Tomkins goes in on James Bentley after incident

Sam Tomkins has questioned Leeds Rhinos star James Bentley after their win over Tomkins’ former side Catalans Dragons with whom he still works with.

Tomkins was a guest pundit on Sky Sports and is always one who is brilliantly honest and provides very insightful opinions.

Tomkins spoke on Bentley after he avoided a yellow or red card after a potential elbow or forearm in the face of Tariq Sims.

This came after Bentley dived on a loose ball and copped a hit in the head from Sims himself. Chris Kendall showed great restraint with his cards and gave both men a talking to and kept it at 13 against 13 though it wouldn’t stay that.

Speaking after the game, Tomkins said Bentley was “lucky” to not get a card.

Tomkins said: “I think he’s saying you’re a very lucky man. He shouldn’t have been on the field. A clear elbow to someone’s head. I don’t know what the referees were thinking in saying that was a play on

“So yeah, I imagine Rohan Smith’s saying, ‘You got lucky, don’t do it again.'”

He would go on to question his consistency and what he described as doing “stupid” things.

He said: “I think for every good thing he does, he something stupid. I think that’s his issue. He’s not got consistency. It’s not what he does when he’s got the ball in hand. It’s just that he has these brain explosions regularly.”

He would add that he is not “a real top end player.” He said: “He’s a decent player. He’s not outstanding or a real top end player, but he comes up with too many daft things.”

James Bentley involved in another incident near Sam Tomkins

Tomkins will have had a front row seat to another incident involving James Bentley as he tackled Jordan Abdull over the touchline but got stuck in the tackle and the Leeds Rhinos man was flung over to the advertising boards prompting Bentley to throw the ball back at Abdull.

This incident did take place right in front of where the Sky Sports coverage takes place at Headingley and thus Tomkins and co will have had a front row seat to this.

Despite the criticism of Bentley by Tomkins, he had a very proactive game against the Dragons playing a key role in the win.