Sam Tomkins acknowledges that Challenge Cup final was not his best game – Rugby League
Sam Tomkins of the Wigan Warriors is disappointed with his performance in the final showdown of the Carnegie Challenge Cup played at the Headingley Stadium in Wembley, on Saturday, August 27 against the underdog Leeds Rhinos.
The Warriors emerged victorious with a 28-18 win over the Rhinos. The club secured Challenge Cup glory after sixteen years, making it a very special victory for the Wigans.
Wigans’ departing coach, Michael Maguire, could not hope for a more perfect exit from his franchise after serving two successful years and cementing his squad as the Super League and Challenge Cup champions.
Tomkins performance all season long had him pegged as the the winner of the Lance Todd Trophy, which was unexpectedly given to Jeff Lima for his two unique tries against the Rhinos.
While referring to this major loss of opportunity which could have been his, Tomkins added that he was not at all pleased with his performance.
Speaking about Lima, who was awarded the man-of-the-match award for scoring a try each in both halves, Tomkins stated, "There was a lot of talk in the week about the Lance Todd but it's not something I concentrate on and I'm happy Jeff got it. Jeff deserved
it more than anyone on the field. I definitely didn't play my best game but, as long as I'm a part of this team, I don't mind.”
According to Tomkins, his performance during the Challenge Cup final was not at par with that of Lima’s who in his opinion is worthy of the Todd Trophy for his out-of-the-box show during the course of the game.
Tomkins further went on to explain that he was being closely guarded by the Rhinos which made his contribution to the scoreboard minimal. However, since he was being watched rigorously, that created gaps for other players which led to some match-winning
strokes for the Warriors.
Lima took advantage of those loopholes and successfully changed them into tries by taking passes from Paul Prescott and Lee Mossop.
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