Sam Powell

Sam Powell (born 3 July 1992) is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a scrum-half or hooker for the Wigan Warriors in the Super League and the England Knights at international level.[5]

For the Australian rules footballer, see Sam Powell-Pepper.
For the English footballer, see Sam Powell (footballer).

Sam Powell
Personal information
Full nameSamuel Powell[1]
Born (1992-07-03) 3 July 1992[2]
Wigan, Greater Manchester, England
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Weight13 st 3 lb (84 kg)[2]
Playing information
PositionHooker, Scrum-half, Stand-off
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2012– Wigan Warriors 250 35 11 4 166
2013(DRTooltip Super League#Dual registration) → S. Wales Scorpions 7 2 0 0 8
2014(DRTooltip Super League#Dual registration) → Workington Town 1 0 0 0 0
2015(DRTooltip Super League#Dual registration) → Workington Town 1 2 0 0 8
Total 259 39 11 4 182
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2018– England Knights 3 0 0 0 0
Source: [3][4]
As of 23 May 2021

He has spent time on dual-registration from Wigan with Workington Town in the Championship and with the South Wales Scorpions in League 1.[6] After signing for Wigan as a youngster his first team début came in a 2012 Super League game against Hull FC.[7]

Background

Powell was born in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.

Club career

Wigan Warriors

Powell signed for the Wigan academy aged 16 and progressed through the ranks winning the Academy Grand Final against Warrington in 2011.

2012

Powell got his debut for Wigan against Hull F.C. during August, scoring a try in the 48-10 victory. He started at scrum-half after Brett Finch suffered a hamstring injury.[8]

2013

Powell made 16 appearances scoring tries against Hull KR, London Broncos and Huddersfield Giants. His kicking game was one of the reasons for his run in the team, a long range drop goal winning the game against Widnes Vikings in early June. Powell was then called up to the England Knights squad alongside fellow Warriors Dominic Crosby, Iain Thornley and Scott Taylor. He made his debut for the side against Samoa scoring two tries in the 52-16 victory.[9]

2014

Powell was handed the number 19 shirt for the new season and made 22 appearances scoring against Bradford Bulls, Salford Red Devils and Hull FC. Half way through the season coach Shaun Wane decided to experiment with the halfback pairing, moving George Williams from hooker to stand off, with Powell starting at dummy half. This would become a permanent switch after Williams impressed in the halves.[10]

He was part of the team that lost the 2014 Super League Grand Final to St. Helens at Old Trafford in a game famous for a Ben Flower red card.[11][12][13]

2015

The new Super League season play 23 times for the Wigan club with more appearances coming from the bench showing a positional change from halfback to hooker. His only try of the season came against Hull F.C. in late July.

He made his second appearance at Old Trafford losing out to the Leeds Rhinos in a tense 2015 Super League Grand Final.[14]

2016

Powell was handed the number 16 shirt for the new season, an early indication that he would be playing mainly from the bench replacing Michael McIlorum at hooker. This however was not to be the case after McIlorum suffered a fractured and dislocated ankle against the Brisbane Broncos in just the third game of the season.[15] Despite initial speculation that Wigan would have to bring in a replacement Powell made the role his own playing 36 times playing on many occasions 80 minutes per game. Tries again St. Helens, Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity and Hull F.C. ensured it was his most successful season in both appearances and scores.

He won the Super League Grand Final on the third time of asking in a tense affair which saw the Wigan Warriors beat the Warrington Wolves 12-6 at Old Trafford.[16][17]

2017

With McIlorum still out injured, Powell started the season at hooker and played his 100th game for the Wigan club in the 22-6 World Club Challenge victory over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.[18] McIlorum returned in the Good Friday derby against St. Helens but Powell kept his place in the team making 31 appearances in all competitions scoring twice and kicking 6 goals.

He played in the 2017 Challenge Cup Final defeat by Hull F.C. at Wembley Stadium.[19]

2018

The departure of McIlorum meant that Thomas Leuluai was handed the number 9 shirt with Powell moving to the number 7.

He played in the 2018 Super League Grand Final victory over the Warrington Wolves at Old Trafford.[20]

2019

Powell played 25 games for Wigan in 2019 as they suffered a shock semi-final loss against Salford.[21]

2020

Powell played in the 2020 Super League Grand Final which Wigan lost 8-4 against St Helens.[22]

2021, 2022 & 2023

Powell played 23 matches for Wigan in the 2021 Super League season as the club reached the playoffs but were eliminated by Leeds. The following season, Powell played in Wigan's upset semi-final loss against Leeds scoring the only try of the match. On 14 October 2023, Powell played in Wigan's 2023 Super League Grand Final victory over the Catalans Dragons.[23]

International career

In July 2018 he was selected in the England Knights Performance squad.[24] Later that year he was selected for the England Knights on their tour of Papua New Guinea. He played against Papua New Guinea at the Lae Football Stadium[25] and the Oil Search National Football Stadium.[26]

In 2019 he was selected for the England Knights against Jamaica at Headingley Rugby Stadium.[27]

Career Statistics
Club Season Appearances Tries Goals F/G Points
Wigan Warriors 2012 1 1 - - 4
2013 16 3 - 2 14
2014 22 3 - - 12
2015 23 1 - - 4
2016 36 7 1 - 30
2017 31 2 6 - 20
2018 33 2 4 - 16
Total 162 19 11 2 100

References
  1. Companies House
  2. "Sam Powell Wigan Warriors". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  3. Loverugbyleague.com profile
  4. Rugby League Project
  5. "England Knights v Jamaica". WWOS. 20 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  6. "South Wales Scorpions hail Northern Rail revival". Rugby League Coaching Manuals. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  7. "A dream début for Powell". Wigan Observer. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  8. "A dream debut for Powell". www.wigantoday.net. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  9. "Rugby League World Cup: England Knights thrash Samoa 52-16 at the Salford City Stadium". Sky Sports. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  10. "Sam and George trading places". www.wigantoday.net. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  11. "St Helens 14 Wigan Warriors 6: Moment of madness from Wales international Ben Flower costs Wigan dear". Daily Telegraph. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  12. "St Helens win Grand Final after Wigan's Ben Flower is sent off". Guardian. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  13. "St Helens 14–6 Wigan Warriors". BBC Sport. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  14. "Leeds pip Wigan to seal treble after brilliant, breathless Grand Final". Guardian. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  15. "Wigan fear Michael McIlorum could be out for six months". Sky Sports. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  16. "Warrington 6-12 Wigan: Super League Grand Final – as it happened!". Guardian. 8 October 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  17. "Super League Grand Final: Warrington Wolves 6-12 Wigan Warriors". BBC Sport. 8 October 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  18. "Powell prepares for a special milestone". www.wigantoday.net. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  19. "Hull FC 18-14 Wigan recap as the Black and Whites claim back-to-back Challenge Cup triumphs". Mirror. 26 August 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  20. "Super League Grand Final 2018: Wigan 12-4 Warrington – as it happened". Guardian. 13 October 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  21. "Salford seal maiden Super League Grand Final appearance". www.skysports.com.
  22. "Super League Grand Final: Wigan 4-8 St Helens". www.bbc.co.uk.
  23. "Wigan Warriors crowned Super League champions after downing Dragons". www.theguardian.com.
  24. "Ten new additions in England Knights squad". loverugbyleague. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  25. "Papua New Guinea vs England Knights". WWOS. 27 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  26. "Papua New Guinea v England Knights". WWOS. 3 November 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  27. "England Knights vs Jamaica". WWOS. 20 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
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