Wigan’s Sam Tomkins leads fightback to beat Leeds in close-run thing

Perhaps it was inevitable Sam Tomkins would have the last laugh. In the moments leading up to kick-off, he was ridiculed by the Leeds supporters after slipping while attempting a warm-up conversion attempt. In true Tomkins fashion, it still sailed through the posts.

Tomkins has plenty of previous with Leeds, of course – seven years ago he was in the thick of the headlines when Wigan beat the Rhinos in the Challenge Cup final – but how he and Wigan will have savoured this moment more than most.

Wins at Leeds do not come easily for Wigan, who had not won here since 2012. And, just as he has been so many times before, Tomkins was at the heart of this latest performance, though the question remains as to how many more he will be involved in beyond this season.

Speculation continues to link the 29-year-old with a move to Catalans for 2019; the general consensus is that the deal is already done. “Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it,” responded Shaun Wane when asked about Tomkins’s future. On nights like these it is clear to see why Wigan would want to keep him.

And a remarkable ending – in which Wigan overturned an eight-point deficit in the final nine minutes to win courtesy of Tomkins’s game-winning drop goal – at least managed to somewhat overshadow a game which is highly unlikely to make it to the end-of-season highlights package.

For over an hour, both sides toiled amidst a host of penalties and handling errors; it was far from the ideal advert for Super League in a game featuring the competition’s last two champions. And when Leeds went eight points ahead with 16 minutes remaining, the smart money was on them leapfrogging Wigan into second place. And, in their coach’s own enigmatic way, he summed up their collapse well. “We stuck our heads up our backside and didn’t pull them out,” Brian McDermott said. “We started playing crazy and we changed the way we played.”

Leeds scored the only try of a largely forgettable and frustrating first half, after a fine Richie Myler pass found Tom Briscoe unmarked. It was a rare moment of quality, with the next points not coming until after the hour mark when Watkins kicked Leeds into a two-score lead.

Wigan’s performance to that point was epitomised by Tomkins, whose effort and endeavour was underlined by unforced errors, but he would ultimately have the final say. He played a part in the move which allowed Oliver Gildart to score with nine minutes remaining, and after he kicked the conversion, he followed suit with a penalty before sending over the drop goal which won the game with three minutes left.

Leeds Golding; Briscoe, Watkins, Handley, Hall; Moon, Myler; Delaney, Parcell, Singleton, Ablett, Ward, Jones-Buchanan.Interchange Cuthbertson, Oledzki, Mullally, Smith.

Try Briscoe Goals Watkins 2

Wigan S Tomkins; Marshall, Bateman, Gildart, Burgess; Williams, Powell; Clubb, Leuluai, Navarrete, Isa, Farrell, O’Loughlin.

Interchange Sutton, Tautai, J Tomkins, Sarginson.

Try Gildart Goals Tomkins 2 Drop goal Tomkins

Referee B Thaler. Attendance 12,221.