Sam Tomkins opens up about interest from rugby union

Sam Tomkins has won it all in rugby league – Grand Finals and Challenge Cups – but there was a time when the elusive fullback nearly went to the 13-a-side code.

The year was 2011 and Tomkins had just won the Grand Final with the Wigan Warriors the year before.

However, the wiry youngster wanted another challenge and almost left the club for Saracens RU – just like his brother Joel.

“Wigan is a goldfish bowl, it’s rugby league non-stop, but at 20-years-old my mum and dad moved down south with work,” Tomkins said on Super League Stories.

“I got this feeling that I wanted to do something different, so my agent Andy Clarke got in touch with Saracens and I had a meeting with Andy Farrell and some of the bosses.

“We agreed a contract and I would play for Saracens in 2011.

“Ian Lenagan (the Wigan owner) then put a spanner in the works with a buy-out fee – mine was pretty high, so Saracens said they would take Joel but they wouldn’t pay that money for me.”