- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It is widely accepted Sam Burgess will be leaving Souths at the end of 2014 despite the fact the rumours have not been confirmed by the player, Souths or his prospective rugby union club, Bath.
Furthermore, England rugby coach Stuart Lancaster has been less than enthusiastic regarding the prospect of Burgess adjusting and finding the form to warrant World Cup selection in such a short timeframe.
“It would be a challenge, big time,” he said. “The technical nature of union makes it very difficult and given the competition that already exists in this England squad, he would have to earn his right to be included by playing high-quality, top-level club rugby at a consistent standard.”
Bath also have not given any strong indication they are in any way advanced in their negotiations and Souths have officially denied having received any contact from the club.
The most recent development is there appears to be strong opposition from other English rugby clubs to the potential funding and support of Burgess signing by the English RFU.
While there is no doubt this deal has been in the works, there is the very real possibility Burgess’ potential switch has been compromised as a result of the news being revealed.
Now the deal has been leaked, there is the potential for the parties to retreat.
From Burgess’ perspective, he will now have to toss up the opportunity against the bad blood it will cause at Souths and rugby league in general, not to mention far greater pressure to make the transition and find form in rugby than he would have experienced had the deal been done discretely.
The pressure is also on for Bath and the RFU; what would have been a coup had they been able to announce it themselves, now is a big risk, with close scrutiny on Burgess’ price tag, question marks over his ability to make the switch and opposition to central funding of the deal.
They must be tossing up whether it’s all worth it.
For Souths, their fans expect them to stand their ground and while Burgess might have quietly negotiated a release they now will potentially be much stronger in their negotiations of a transfer fee.
They now clearly have the upper hand in this discussion and will rightly command a huge fee, which could be a further disincentive for Bath and the RFU.
While on the face of it it seems like a done deal, it may now in fact be much harder to complete.
The alternative scenario is Burgess remains at Souths, however this would raise even more questions.
Would the players, who it has been reported took exception to the Burgess sideshow, accept him back as one of their own?
Would Burgess resent Souths if transfer negotiations ultimately foil the deal?
If he stays would it cause even greater disruption to Souths’ premiership push?
And if he goes, will Souths fans look back on his last season in rugby league fondly after he plays a big role in delivering a long-awaited premiership to the burrow?
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.