There are undoubtedly plenty of opportunities awaiting Sam Tomkins when his glittering playing career comes to an end on Saturday evening. But, given the manner in which the past few months have played out, he would be well inclined to consider script-writing: not even Hollywood could have predicted the way this particular story has drawn to a close.
Six months or so ago, Tomkins was ready to call time on his career. He saw four knee specialists after England’s Rugby League World Cup campaign last year, who all told him the same thing: retire immediately. “I thought I knew better than those specialists,” he says. He underwent an operation to try to get him through one final year as a Catalans Dragons player, but minutes into his first game of this season, he knew there was a problem.
“I had a sleepless night after that game,” he says. “In the early hours of the morning, I phoned Steve [McNamara, the Catalans coach] and said I couldn’t do it any more. In terms of rugby it was the toughest conversation I’ve ever had. My opinion was that the club were better off bringing in someone who could play every week. They said they’d rather have me for important games than bring someone in. That was humbling, I wasn’t asking for a payout, I just wanted to finish and they said they wanted me here.”
Tomkins, 34, and the Catalans medical staff hatched a plan to cherrypick games and get him through his final season. He is in pain for days after playing and the initial goal was for him to feature in no more than eight or nine games. This weekend, he will play in his 22nd match of the season and 389th of a remarkable career amid a backdrop of fascinating subplots for him and the club that he has taken to his heart since joining five seasons ago.
Catalans are one win away from lifting the Super League title for the first time. It could be a historic night that opens doors for rugby league in France like never before. The team standing in their way? Tomkins’ boyhood club, the side for whom he exploded on the scene as a teenager with so much swagger nearly 15 years ago: his beloved Wigan Warriors. “Funny how things turn out, isn’t it?” the former England captain says.
“I won a Grand Final in my last game as a Wigan player in 2018, and now my last game is against Wigan in a Grand Final. I understand how fortunate I am but my story is a subplot, we’re a young club and it’s our chance to win Super League.”
Tomkins intended initially to spend only two, maybe three, years in the south of France but he and his young family have taken the club and the Perpignan region to their hearts to such an extent that they will remain there after he retires.
Having arrived as an outsider, Tomkins has established himself as one of the most cherished players in Catalans history. “I moved here for a month on my own when I signed and then my wife and two boys followed – we’ve now got four kids that speak French, and they don’t know any other way of life. In some ways it would be more difficult to move the family back. The children are so French, it scares me. They speak better French than English.”
Tomkins therefore understands what victory for Catalans, who lost their maiden Grand Final appearance two years ago, would represent for the whole nation on Saturdayevening. After the disappointment of the 2025 World Cup being pulled from France there is renewed energy around the game across the Channel, with Toulouse in this weekend’s Championship Grand Final and L’Équipe agreeing a historic deal to broadcast the Old Trafford finale.
“As a club, we can spark a light in a lot of young French kids for rugby league,” he says. “I know the amateur game is strong, my kids play for a local team and every one of the parents and kids loves it. But for people to look up to guys like Ben Garcia, Julian Bousquet, solid Catalan players who are French, to see them win Super League is a moment that would be a huge boost for kids in France.”
Having won everything there is to win domestically, Tomkins is in no doubt about where the fairytale ending to his own script would rank. “This would be the most special trophy of the lot,” he says. “Every trophy has got a story behind it but this would be the first title for a whole club and the last time I’ll ever lace my boots up. It would be the perfect ending.”
