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Wigan Warriors returning superstar Sam Tomkins will watch on from the sidelines at this Saturday’s Test match against France.
After moving to Australia to join the New Zealand Warriors, the England full back is returning to Super League for the 2016 season by rejoining home town side Wigan. However as international Test matches begin this weekend, Tomkins will miss the first with a knee injury he picked up whilst playing down under for the NZ Warriors.
Tomkins trained alone on Tuesday at England’s new training ground in Burton as head coach Steve McNamara has said the player is still struggling with his knee injury. He also insisted that Tomkins’ recovery will not be rushed.
McNamara said this about Tomkins: “It’s important when he’s fit he’s fully fit. That’s most important for me. When you’ve got a fully-fit Sam Tomkins, you’ve got a pretty special player on your hands.”
England begin the start of a three match Test series against New Zealand with the opening game on Sunday 1st November at the KC Stadium, home of Super League side Hull FC. Just under a week later they travel down to London to play at the Olympic Stadium in the second Test match against the Kiwis.
The final Test match is to be played in Tomkins’s home town of Wigan at the DW Stadium on Saturday 14th November where he will be playing the majority of his rugby in 2016. When it was announced he was rejoining Wigan, Tomkins said that he was really happy to be returning home and called the decision a “no-brainer”.
