Sam Pocklington is the latest player to reach 100 games for Hull Ionians, following quickly on from his half-back partner, Ben Smith. Such is Sam’s foresight he saw it coming well before anyone else, probably engineering it so that his personal landmark coincided with a home game and the final match of the season!
Sam joined the club in 2022 and made his debut in a game away at Sheffield Tigers. He has been one of the team’s most consistent performers over the last five seasons, predominantly at scrum-half, though occasionally he has had his arm twisted to fill in at 10.
A prolific try scorer, averaging virtually a try every other game, what sets Sam apart from most other 9s is his speed of thought and vision; a good number of his 48 tries have come from either interceptions or a quick tap and go.
His Dad is also his agent and he has said that he wants to see Sam reach 200 appearances, so we should secure the services of the best scrum-half in the league for another few seasons. With that in mind perhaps some of his team-mates would like to apologise for some of their comments, that’s if they ever expect to receive another pass in the foreseeable…
Well done, Sam, here’s to another 100.