Tompkins: Dad has to wear red shirt or he is not coming

Centre’s switch to Wales has posed a problem for England fanatic father, he tells James Corrigan

Andy Tompkins always dreamt that one day he would be at Twickenham watching his son playing in an England versus Wales encounter. But this Red Rose fanatic never envisaged his ticket would be dependent on him donning a red jersey.

“I got my brother to buy the Wales shirt for Dad and he’s been told that unless he wears it he’s not coming,” Nick Tompkins said with a wide grin.

“It’s funny because when I was young and watching this match in the house, we’d be giving my mum stick as the Welsh one. But now we are ganging up on Dad. Ironic.”

Tompkins Jnr has another word to describe the experience that awaits. “Surreal,” he said. “And I suppose it’s not going to kick in until I’m really there.”

The highlights of a staggering few months will pass in front of his eyes. They began with Wayne Pivac, the Wales head coach, phoning to check on his eligibility. Tompkins knew he was qualified because his late grandmother, Enid, was proud of her Wrexham roots and, as a strong character, “ensured my mum’s side of the family was very Welsh”. But then the England Under-20 player had to take the leap and, when he did, the banter began.

Ross Moriarty, an England Under-20 team-mate whose reconversion to his homeland was anything but a shock, texted Tompkins to “see if he knew the way to Cardiff ”, and his Saracens hombres also piled in. In the past week, the messages have pinged back and forth.

“I’ve had a few from Jamie [George, the England hooker],” Tompkins said. “I’ve told him I cannot wait to see him. That’s the exciting thing. Getting to play against my mates and having the chance to put one over on them. I’m even looking forward to playing against Maro [Itoje], although he hits me hard enough in training, so imagine what it will be like in full contact.”

Certainly, Itoje and the rest of Eddie Jones’s Allianz Park alliance will not take lightly the challenge of the 14-stoner. They have watched his progression and his refusal to accept he was too small to make it at the top level. “That was one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through,” Tompkins said.

“You see all these guys making it and question why you’re not getting the opportunities. I was probably blaming other people. It is tough being at a good club with players like Brad [Barritt], Duncan [Taylor], who are so good. You have to be patient and, looking back, I realise everybody’s got their own path.”

Tompkins (right) is adamant that the Saracens salary-cap scandal and the forthcoming relegation have not affected him – “I’ve not focused on that, this takes up everything” – and has enough self-confidence to make tongue-incheek quips about “all that Welsh hatred for England”.

He is even willing to agree that tomorrow morning it would be rich vindication to see despairing English headlines declaring “The One That Got Away”.

“I suppose it would,” Tompkins said with a smirk. “But the stronger emotion is to prove why I’m here. I want to show people that ‘he deserves to be here’.”

Of course, in the event of Tompkins starring in a third victory at Twickenham in 32 years,

the Welsh fans would duly gloat in stealing a gem from under Eddie Jones’s nose. They took to Tompkins immediately, although it was impossible not to with his remarkable cameo as a try-scoring debutant against Italy on the opening weekend.

That instant hero worship decreased a notch or two when he was culpable for an Irish try in the 24-14 defeat in Dublin, and again when he threw the interception that allowed Romain Ntamack to grab the daylight to see France over the line two weeks ago.

“Ireland was a really good learning curve,” he said. “Obviously I’ve learnt that the standard is higher, but the biggest thing is the hype. Against France, I was gutted, because the momentum was with us and it suddenly shifted back.”

A Tompkins break in the final minute almost pulled off the comeback win but, regardless, the review since has given Pivac’s men confidence. “You could argue that France was a really good performance,” Tompkins said. “So, we’re coming to Twickenham excited.”

And of that hatred to England? Is the Sidcup Welshman feeling it? “Hey, I’m a lover, not a fighter,” he laughed. “But you can feel the tension, you can feel that edge. It’s just as I’d imagined it, actually.” Except in red, not white.