Sam Tomkins feared his hopes of a fairytale finale to his glittering rugby league career had been dashed when he limped away from Catalans Dragons’ Betfred Super League win over Leigh in Perpignan in February.
The 34-year-old made a painful early morning phone call to Catalans head coach Steve McNamara to concede his decision to extend his career beyond last year’s World Cup in order help the French side towards a second Grand Final had been in vain.
Eight months later, having defied both his own initial fears and those of series of specialists who had delivered dark verdicts on his injured knee, Tomkins is preparing for the final game he always dreamed of, against the club he helped inspire to three previous Grand Final crowns.
It has become increasingly hard to deny that it has been written in the stars for Tomkins, especially since he rolled back the years with a nifty sprint through the defensive line of four-time defending champions St Helens to score the match-winning try in their play-off semi-final last week.
“It’s funny how things turn out,” smiled Tomkins. “My last game for Wigan was winning a Grand Final here in 2018 and now my last ever game on the pitch is against Wigan. I understand how lucky I am to be in this position.
“Everybody has their own personal story of what trophies mean to them. I’ve got a story for every one, but this different. This would be the first Super League title for the club, and the last time I’ll ever lace up my boots.
“The fairytale isn’t playing on Saturday – it’s winning on Saturday.”
Tomkins initially needed some convincing to bring an end to his glittering Wigan career and move to France in 2019, uprooting his young family to join McNamara, the former Bradford coach who harboured persuasive ambitions of turning Catalans into a permanent member of the sport’s elite.
Now his young family speak fluent French and he has no immediate desire to return to the UK, investing in property and a potential vineyard in Perpignan and accepting an offer from club owner Bernard Guasch to continue in a role as a club ambassador.
It is a measure of Tomkins’ gratitude for his improbable late-career surge, and his desire to take the club one step further than their previous Grand Final appearance two years ago, that he was swiftly disabused of the conviction that the match against Leigh could be his last.
“We played against Leigh and I had a sleepless night after that game,” recalled Tomkins. “In the early hours of the morning, I called the coach and just said, ‘I can’t do it.’
“In terms of rugby, it was the toughest conversation I’ve ever had. Steve said to just come in the office and we’d chat through it. I was adamant at the time – I know my body and I just said I couldn’t do it.
“I told them they’d be better off bringing in someone else who can play every week. But the club said they didn’t want to do that. They said they’d rather have me here for the important games, and that for me was humbling.
“The performance and medical staff put together a great plan that meant I’ve played more rugby this year than I ever imagined.
“I will forever be in debt to them for the work they’ve done in my last season that means I’ll be able to finish on the biggest stage.”
Tomkins, however, is adamant the inevitable emotion of the occasion will count for nothing unless he is able to lift his current club to what would be an unprecedented first Grand Final win for the French side.
Catalans went toe to toe with Wigan during the regular season, leading the standings for a long period and eventually finishing second on goal difference, before raising their game to sink Saints in front of a near sell-out at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Over six planes full of Catalans fans will travel to Old Trafford and both French and Catalonian television channels will broadcast the game live, testament to the strides made by the club in the two years since they came up short against Saints at the same venue.
“We learned a lot a couple of years ago and we certainly learned that you can go to a Grand Final and play really well and can still not be enough,” said McNamara, who has made winning a personal mission since he moved to the club in 2017.
“The experience you gain is the same whether you win or lose and that puts us in a different place.
“We are up against a club who have been one of the juggernauts of rugby league for the last hundred-odd years, but that is how it should be in a Grand Final, and we know we have got to be outstanding.”
Leeds twice blew a double-figure lead as Huddersfield hit back to claim a spectacular 30-24 Betfred Super League win at Headingley.
Adam Clune burst across the halfway line in the dying stages to put the seal on a dramatic win that piles the pressure on Leeds head coach Rohan Smith after the Rhinos’ fourth home loss in a row.
The hosts led 12-2 after a forgettable first half but spectacularly combusted after the break and handed the Giants the chance to build on last week’s brilliant Challenge Cup quarter-final win at Catalans Dragons.
Tries from Paul Momirovski and the returning David Fusitu’a had given the Rhinos a sizeable lead after a relatively serene first period in which Jake Connor kicked the Giants’ only points, and which offered no indication of the drama to follow.
It was a different story early in the second half as Leeds lost then duly retrieved their double-figure lead before the hour-mark.
Out of nowhere, Esan Marsters shrugged off three feeble challenges on the Leeds left to grab Huddersfield’s opener, then three minutes later, Adam Swift pummelled the same flank to set up a diving effort in the corner from Elliot Wallis to improbably haul Huddersfield level.
Only a poor night with the boot by Jake Connor – who would nail just one of his six conversions – prevented Huddersfield gaining a stranglehold and the Rhinos were quick to respond, Momirovski crossing for his second of night then Jarrod O’Connor charging through a flat-footed Giants rearguard to put them back in control.
Rhyse Martin’s fourth straight kick look Leeds 12 points clear but home hopes that they had learned their lesson were spectacularly disproved as more shocking defence allowed Swift to squirm over from dummy-half and keep his side in with a shout, eight adrift with 15 minutes remaining.
Incredibly within three minutes Huddersfield did it again as Swift was again allowed to make inroads before feeding Harvey Livett for his side’s fourth, cutting the Leeds lead to four.
Huddersfield were level in the 70th minute, Clune’s ball to the right was brilliantly touched on by Connor for Kevin Naiqama to surge over, but Connor’s problems with the boot continued as another missed kick left the game all-square at 24-24.
As Leeds collapsed, Miller was pushed almost 10 metres over his own try-line and his subsequent drop-out failed to go 10 metres, giving Connor the simplest of chances to send Huddersfield two points clear from in front of the posts.
Clune put the seal on a remarkable evening when Naiqama intercepted a pass from Cameron Smith and survived shouts for a knock-on as he juggled the ball out to his team-mate to finish the job.
Ashton Golding relishing his ‘Grand Final’ return to Headingley with Giants
Ashton Golding has vowed to put thoughts of overdue silverware aside as he prepares for a match that means more to him than any other when Huddersfield face Leeds in the Betfred Super League at Headingley on Friday.
For Leeds-born Golding it does not get any bigger than a return to face the Rhinos, his boyhood idols and the club for whom he made more than 50 appearances before making the difficult decision to leave to further his career in 2019.
“This is my personal Grand Final,” Golding told the PA news agency. “There’s no other game in the calendar that beats it. I live two minutes away from Headingley and I love Leeds, it’s my city, I was born there and I will probably die there.
“I’ll follow anyone that plays for any Leeds team. I’m fond of the Rhinos any day I’m not playing them, but as soon as it’s game day against the Rhinos, they’re my enemy and I’m a Giant.”
Having played at full-back for Leeds, Golding has proved a versatile interchange under Ian Watson as he looks to re-establish himself after two years battling a series of minor injuries.
The Giants too have shown signs of rebounding from a disappointing 2023 campaign and go to Headingley on the back of two straight Super League wins plus a stunning 34-6 success over Catalans Dragons in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.
It was a result that raised plenty of eyebrows outside the Giants’ dressing room, but Golding added: “We know our own ability and we don’t need everyone else telling us how good or how bad we are.
“We understood that last year was not reflective of us and the work we had put in. We’ve got a group of good honest players who know they can all depend on each other, and we are excited to find out how far we are able to go.”
Huddersfield will face Warrington in the semi-finals next month as they look to book a second Wembley trip in two years. And victory would finally snag some silverware for Golding, who admits his experience at Leeds, when he was often benched for the biggest games, instilled him with plenty of hunger for more.
“I have absolutely fond memories of playing for the Rhinos, but it is also the experiences when I didn’t play that helped me overcome adversity in certain situations,” Golding said.
“Missing out on the Grand Final in 2017, 18th man in the World Club Challenge, it either makes you or breaks you and I felt like it gave me more. I think it was the best thing that I took away from Leeds and I can’t wait to go back there and play in that brilliant stadium again on Friday night.”
Adrian Lam says last year’s Challenge Cup triumph gave Leigh an identity
Leigh head coach Adrian Lam believes last year’s dramatic Betfred Challenge Cup final win over Hull KR at Wembley laid the foundations for the club to become a recognised force at the top of the domestic game.
Lachlan Lam’s golden-point drop goal sealed a 17-16 win and sealed a stunning first season back in the top-flight for the newly rebranded Leopards, who also defied expectations by reaching the end-of-season play-offs.
Second-season syndrome has struck this term with the Leopards currently languishing in ninth place as they prepare to reprise their Wembley showdown when they head to Craven Park to face buoyant Rovers in the quarter-finals this Saturday.
But Lam, who concedes KR will be “red hot favourites” for their latest meeting, is confident that the lessons learned from their success in the last campaign will stand them in good stead for the foreseeable future.
He said: “The Challenge Cup was one of the greatest moments for the club in the past century, and it created some memories that we will keep in our hearts – not just the players and staff but the whole town.
“Our town hasn’t had too much to cheer about over the last 50 years, and this has really given it some hope and a breath of fresh air, for people to be able to come down and support a team that they know has a chance of winning every week.
“And I think for supporters of other sports, they know who we are now. We have etched our name in the history and folklore, and as a club we have given ourselves an identity for people to watch and support.”
Leigh will go into the game on the back of consecutive derby defeats to Wigan and Salford, in contrast to KR, who have scored three straight wins including last week’s 50-10 triumph over rock-bottom London.
Lam described Rovers’ recent form as “scintillating”, and suggested the hosts will be up for the fight in light of what happened at Wembley last year: “They will be emotionally connected to that, so we have to match it,” he added.
However, Rovers head coach Willie Peters insists the tumult of last year’s Wembley occasion will play no part in their quest to build on their promising early-season form and seal their place in the semi-finals.
“A lot of people will be talking about what happened last year, but we’re certainly not,” said Peters.
“It’s a different year, a new year. It’s the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup in 2024. All we’re focusing on is going out there this weekend and getting a result.”
Leigh are likely to be boosted by the return of prop Tom Amone after a month out with a foot injury, while Jez Litten will return for Rovers in place of Ben Reynolds, who is cup-tied.
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