Dayon Sambou reflects on try-scoring Wigan Warriors debut - 'I instantly started smiling'

The 20-year-old made the move over Billinge Hill in the off-season, joining Wigan on a four-year contract from St Helens alongside Jonny Vaughan.

Sambou has enjoyed a big pre-season with Matt Peet’s side, and played for the reserves and on loan at Salford before earning his first-team debut in Friday’s 30-6 win over Bradford Bulls in the Challenge Cup fourth round.

"It was good, it felt good to get out there with the boys and even better to make my debut alongside Noah (Hodkinson) as well,” Sambou told Wigan Today.

"Matty told me I’d be making my debut in the week… It was early in the morning, we were having breakfast, and I was just about to plate up my food, when he just said, ‘Can I grab you for a chat?’ So we sat down, and he said I was going to be on the bench. I instantly started smiling – all these thoughts were going through my head – but I was just happy to get out there.

"I think there were eight people here at the game who are close to me – five family and three friends. My brother Jumah (Sambou, who plays for Hull KR) needs to work on his speech skills because they were poor before the game! My mum was too shy, so my brother did the talk before the game. I’m a chill guy, but he’s even more chill than me!”

Sambou came on the wing for around the last 25 minutes in Wigan’s win over Bradford, replacing Adam Keighran, with Zach Eckersley moving inside to the centres.

The Warrington-born winger scored the last try of the game, intercepting a pass to race under the sticks while doing an Alan Shearer-esque celebration in front of the South Stand.

"I can’t complain,” Sambou laughed. “You’ve got to give it some, haven’t you? Matty wasn’t too happy about that, he just said put the ball down, so I don’t think I’ll be doing that again!”

Sambou, who made six first-team appearances for Saints before joining the Warriors, has spent time out on loan at North Wales Crusaders, Halifax Panthers and Salford during his blossoming career.

The week before making his senior Wigan debut, the former Woolston Rovers and Rylands Sharks junior impressed during a loan appearance for Salford in the Championship.

"Matty said to me he felt like he wanted me to get some game time at Salford,” he explained.

"I went over there to try to have a good game there to up my chances of playing in the first-team here, and it looks like it did its job, and he put me in for this week, so it was good for me to get some minutes, and I’m happy with how it went."

Sambou is still in the infancy of his promising rugby league career, and he just wants to make the most of every opportunity that comes his way.

"I’m obviously still so young, so I’ll just keep training hard and keep myself in Matty’s thoughts, so whenever the opportunity arises, hopefully he can trust me to do a job for the team,” he added.