England rugby’s handling of Sam Burgess came in for renewed scrutiny and criticism as his return to rugby league was rubber-stamped.
Burgess has signed a three-year contract with South Sydney, the NRL team he left last year for Bath and the opportunity to play for hosts England in rugby union’s World Cup.
Former England rugby centre Will Greenwood said: “rugby union has let the lad down”, in a Twitter posting.
Burgess, 26, was a scapegoat to many for the failure of Stuart Lancaster’s England team at the World Cup, where he was used at inside centre, having also played his club rugby in the back row.
England colleague James Haskell said Burgess had “to be pretty happy” with his achievements in such a short period of time, but former Red Rose players were dismissive of the efforts to integrate a world-class player from the 13-man code into top-level union.
Former England fly-half Olly Barkley said there must be people held accountable.
“If @SamBurgess8 has gone back to league then it’s fair to say @EnglandRugby should hold their hand up. What a waste, what a mess,” Barkley wrote on Twitter.
Sonny Bill Williams, a union World Cup winner with New Zealand but a former league opponent for Burgess, said it was “a sad day for the rugby world” but “a great one” for Souths.
Former Welsh dual-code international Jonathan Davies said: “It’s been a total shambles for everyone involved but you can’t blame @SamBurgess8. Best of luck Sam.”
Wasps flanker Haskell, who spent weeks on end with Burgess during the World Cup campaign, said: “I’m sad because I’m losing a friend and rugby union is losing a star in the making but you can understand why he’s doing it.”
He rejected speculation there were players envious of Burgess within the England squad, after his rapid, much-hyped elevation to the international scene.
“Sam’s the kind of guy who did everything for the team,” Haskell told BBC Radio Five Live.
“I’m sorry to see a mate go across. Bath fans will miss him, I think the Bath boys will miss him, whoever gets back into the England squad will miss him because he’s a top man and a good character.
“He’s an unbelievable rugby league player, a guy who gave it his best shot at rugby union and made the England team and made the World Cup.”
From rugby league, St Helens captain Jon Wilkin said Burgess was simply missing his family too much, with brothers Luke, Tom and George all playing in Australia – Tom and George both with the Rabbitohs.
“Being in this country away from his twin younger brothers, away from his mother, who had all relocated to Sydney to be with Sam, has been a big stretch for him,” Wilkin said.
Looking at the World Cup role handed to Burgess, Wilkin said: “I was one of those guys who thought he probably wasn’t ready, and in fact he wasn’t ready.
“England have got to learn lessons about how they recruit players, how they promote players, and the time in which to do that.”
ShaghaiDoc
Guest
To be fair he brought a great deal of this on himself. His time frame was unrealistic, arrogant even, and it must have been difficult to fit in with all those public schoolboys who had all read at least one book. (Clearly not the rule book though). SBW took a couple of years in France and then more than eight years to be able to make a contribution to the All Blacks in a RWC final. He has only earned his spot in the past few weeks. Before this year he had only excelled against second and third tier opponents. Many players succeed at a level below test match rugby and against lesser nations but never make the grade at the elite level. QC and PooCrook are examples that come to mind. I hope that Cheika stays loyal and ignores the English offers, although it would be fun, to see how long he could survive there. I know he coached at club level but they own the players.
Becs
Guest
I think you will more than likely find the deal for him to switch Codes included the proviso that he would be included in the RWC team. Blaming Lancaster, or Farrell for that matter, is a nonsense. They are simply pawns in all this if the RFU have made a deal to bring a money player from League and have chosen to promote him at every turn. Burgess should not have played any part in it himself, but it seems he was more than happy to go along with things even though he was out of his depth and being pushed to the forefront at all times when he should really have been letting some of the other players have their moment in the spotlight....we all know that does not do any favours for team morale. It also transpires he made contact with the Rabbitohs within minutes of being subbed in the Wales match to make plans about going back to Australia. That, if true, is pretty poor form. Bath have been given a tidy sum ( £750, 000 ) to release him from his contract, but the damage at the Club will be hard to mend;they are floundering close to the bottom of the table at present and a very unhappy looking bunch. The nonsense about him taking Burrell's place in the Squad is just that...nonsense. Burrell had a poor Six Nations, a poor Season for the Saints and failed dismally in his chance to prove he was the best pick for the RWC in the pre-Tournament friendlies. He has continued his poor form into the Season. Slade was the player who always had to be there and Cipriani and Daly were two players very unfortunate to miss out. As for the abuse aimed at Mr Lancaster, no, he should stay. Things are not as dire as they are being painted. An overhaul, Spring-clean of players etc who do not fit/are not up to scratch and some of the new guard can come in their place. And we then carry on as we were before and build on that. We scored 18 Tries in the 6 Nations, should have been many more, the highest in the Competition. One of us, Wales or Australia had to leave at the Pool stage this RWC...it was us, the least experienced of us all and the second least experienced in the RWC, I believe. We made a couple of stupid mistakes and our confidence was shot. So what ? This overreaction is doing us no favours whatsoever. And I'll say again, we neither want, nor need, a foreign Coach !
Garth
Guest
#askBenji Marshall. Oh that's right, he failed.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yeah agree with that. They called the shots. To lump a home World cup on a player in his first year of rugby was crazy.
Bushranger
Guest
Rugby did not let him down - England Rugby did. Like the whole England campaign they wanted the benefits without doing the work. They compare him to SBW but there is no comparison. SBW played two years in France and a year for the Chiefs before being selected for NZ. That attitude, that you have to earn your place in the team, is why the All Blacks won and England didn't get out of the pool. As for Burgess, he can't escape without blame. Despite, or perhaps because of, what he was told his expectations were unrealistic. He also was not prepared to do the preparatory work and his lack of commitment is clear now that it is all over and he can't get back to league fast enough. Perhaps he prefers to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond.
cuw
Guest
@ Bakkies : they will need to buy a flanker quickly. becoz of Burgess they sold Carl Ferns to Lyon (remember the guy who knocked out Gavin Henson in a pub!! :) ) now they have lost two 6s.
cuw
Guest
trust roar to leave out the best one :) "Ali Williams - @AliWilliams_ If it’s true about @SamBurgess8 then he could always come to NZ and we could turn him into a superstar. #ask @SonnyBWilliams #askbradthorn "
soapit
Guest
well theres always going to be a lot of skills if youre learning 2 positions at once (and still managed to get selected)
soapit
Guest
didnt know that thanks jez.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Saffy was an Australian Schools Rugby Union player, Australian U-21 and Aussie 7s player before he went to League. Played much more Union than he ever did RL.
Daniel Bryson
Roar Rookie
Bath don't need to buy players from abroad. They've got plenty of quality players coming through their academy.
taylorman
Roar Guru
It's just another poor decision by the English side. They made a bucket load of them this year. They overrated their own side, squad and Burgess, went out and then wondered what on earth went wrong. They weren't equipped as a side to handle the pressure as hosts, had no genuine world best players, several inexperienced players and hadn't won any match, tournament or tour of note for at least two years. Lose the first to Wales and the uphill battle would became immense, and so it was. Burgess was just another in the long line of poor decisions, luck, aspirations, expectations etc etc. as is always the case, they need a shake up, and it appears the Club scene is the place to start looking at the cracks that are appearing now.
Zero Gain
Guest
Far more skills required in Union, that is really where he had problems. Great league player but was never going to make the grade in international Rugby Union.
Steve
Guest
Englands problem in the WC wasn't Sammy it was their pathetic scrum. Seriously, did anyone blaming Burgess even watch the games?.....their scrimmaging was just abysmal and they were destroyed by all and sundry. If you are getting owned to that extent it wont matter who's playing in 12, you're going to get your ass handed to you on a platter.
ben
Guest
Wheres birdy and the other regular whining poms normally on here? Havent heard much since the wc round robin and even less since the final.
soapit
Guest
yes i think it would be very tough but if the desire was there to put the years into development their body type allow wouldnt stop them and the skills could be learnt likely at least to club level unlikely that desire will ever be there for any league prop (give up running freely with the ball to having "your head showved up your bum" for a living).
soapit
Guest
burrell was a centre and ashton has played before (albeit both only super league). re the others so long as those backs you mention were happy with the extra 10m (and the additional force that creates in the colisions) and the importance placed on those collisions they could probably go. dont really know their games well enough to comment on how much they like the rough stuff. i think ur underestimating the difference in whats required from halves (just like benji did) even the kicking games required are different, theyd be the most likely to be unable to cut it. (tho farrell would likely get a chance because of his pedigree) really tho most of those guys (the ones not playing centre/wing or fullback) would have is getting an nrl club to give them a go and let them learn. it would take them time to transition and would likely have to take a low grade contract and prove themselves. still youd have to back most to make a team somewhere if they were willing to take the paycut (it would be a bit like jarryd hayne coming over to play solely for fiji). wouldnt see most rising close to where burgess is tho would be interesting to see how they went and if the could at least get picked for england
ben
Guest
Brad Thorn was also a great scrummager and either jumped or lifted at lineout time. Had some of the greatest ruck cleanout stats too. Like i said...you need more than straight hard tough running and tackling......
'Nambawan
Guest
With reasonable respect - Rubbish - In Union how many scrums/lineouts/penalties/ time outs (rest breaks) for fake injuries etc. Tests have been done which prove ball in League is in play on average about 25 more minutes per game than Union
Mitcher
Guest
What an utterly rabid character assassination. It would be futile countering the suite of plainly absurd agenda driven attacks spewed forth above. So I'll just have a dig at one. Is 'glory hunting' actually an insult? Wouldn't all players who put their hands up for selection in the top contending teams have been 'hunting glory'? As was plain in the faces of all of the ultimately victorious All Blacks, winning the World Cup appeared patently glorious. But yeah, shame on the ambitious young athlete for putting his hand up and having the temerity to be selected.