Sam Burgess could be a legend, but only in league

Sorry Andrew The Headline of the article seemed to say you agreed with the Yawnion group of propagandists and jilted brides at the alter, To my mind SB would be good at most Oval ball stuff and his experience speaks volumes about yawn itself rather than SB. I was sorry when he went because Vichy is not good enough to waste excellent talent on its very dubious rocks. Eddie Jones is doing his best to get past and explain the issue but that could be because he has his eye on a few league converts. And unless you're an idiot SB's time there and departure are a very telling, sobering and warning story to any who might consider the move. Saying he's not as fast as Wendell, nor as gifted as SBW didn't endear me to your cause simply because comparing a forward to a winger is silly and I think he has some attributes SBW doesn't have in his game. We have discussed this a lot but essentially kick and clap is tedious, boring and lacking in all the basic requirements of a decent sport. Added to this, when it comes to RL the attitudes of this sport are questionable and should be regarded with as much suspicion as we can muster. At no point should we examine SB's story in Vichy as if it were to do with him rather than zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz itself and to do so is to support some poor excuses for writers and journalism that inhabit London centric newspapers. Don't examine the victim attack the perpetrator! Hope that clears it up, all the best. TGG Russ.

Had to come back Andrew because some website was abusing you by dismissing you as a non-fiction writer and I thought you should be allerted to this libellous assertion!

Yeah roughly speaking since about 1894 possibly 1893!

Never in the field of human endeveavour in sport has so much nonsense been spouted by so many people over so small an issue. "Sam Burgess could be a legend, but only in league" Wrong on two points! SB is a Legend and "only" and League do not belong in the same sentence except when it says "There is only League andeverything else is a perversion!!" Unless you're a bit of a troll of course! It is nice to see someone falling in line with the tedious yawn journalists and pundits in helping them justify their nasty, condescending and unjustified attacks, they do need all the help they can get. This was never about SB it was about a) Enland losing b) who would make a good scapegoat and c) Sam deciding to leave because he found out he prefered League (along with other motivations and this is the real crime that they believe happened) This meant, it was open season, and he was fair game for the poor journalism and journalists who populate the yawn World! This is because they are propangandists, supporters and proponents for their sport and it's just a shame that League has nothing like their equivalent either in quantity or sufficiently biased to take its side!

Hundreds of thousands of Rabbitohs supporters for a start (and yes, we do have a massive number of supporters)!!

It happens in sport all the time, I have played over 200 league games and about 600 games of Cricket in my life, I probably only remember about 100 or so incidents in total, I wasn't concussed either mate. Some have great memories and most of us DON"T.

Squidward: you need to experience the feeling of getting belted in the head mate. I mean only because "you break your cheekbone" that doesn't mean you get a concussion. SAM didn't get a concussion that night, I don't recall him stumbling all around the place and falling to the ground! The second he got hit, he got up and went straight over to the trainer pointed at his cheekbone and relayed the info concisely. About 6 years ago when I was opening the batting in third grade, I am an old bloke, I don't wear a helmet, a bit silly perhaps but I don't like them. Anyway, I took a blow, off the gloves and onto my eye socket. I broke my eye socket and continued to play on. I was on 4 runs at the time and eventually got bowled for 48 about two hours later, I had NO CONCUSSION that day. ONLY because you get hit, doesn't automatically mean you get a concussion!

Always thought Benji could of stayed and been in the NZ 7's team.

Nigel, you are a real Nigel. It's a shame that some of the more deserving English players, that were robbed of their rightful place in the team by Sam, didn't get a run instead of some of the genuine rugby chap mediocrities that meandered around the field with Burgess. So England had this load of talent ready to take their country on into the finals, but the whole selection process was undone by one league player. Hello. English rugby was in the doldrums way before Burgess appeared on the scene, still being run by the boring old farts and it will be ever thus.

Critics calling nrl a one nation game fair enough. The world is bigger than small nrl stadiums fair enough. But we love it so back off it is our regions game, europe would be insular as well as they only give a crap about soccer and their backyard and the us with nfl and nba. This region is nrl and afl, im samoan and i understand this so who gives crap if our games are played in one or two countries. Cos i never knew europe counted as the whole world. Aus and the pacific is the whole fn world as well. This our backyard so backoff. Please tread carefully in this part of the world.

Nigel, Could have been anything means ....could have become a legend of the game, eventually become captain etc. You are confusing it with ....could have played in any position When Nick Kyrios was told he could be anything in tennis, it meant he could become world number 1, win grand slams etc It didn't mean he could become a ball boy or the central chair umpire.

Mr Media I note you say " watched by millions." As opposed to " enjoyed by millions. "

Lancaster resigns http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/73945151/england-coach-stuart-lancaster-resigns-after-rugby-world-cup-failure "Lancaster had been heavily criticized in the wake of England's flop, notably for selecting inexperienced rugby league convert Sam Burgess who last week turned his back on the code after one season. Burgess's selection at centre was widely seen to have backfired with reports that it divided a young and inexperienced squad."

Yes sir he was gifted the position. There were far better players ie Luther Burrell What YOU fail to understand or want to acknowledge , Andy Farrell wanted and got Burgess . It wasn't Union calling, it was a League man. You also fail to mention there were League pundits who clearly thought he could waltz into the England side because he was Sam Burgess great the NRL player. He didn't have the stomach to tough it out , so he took the easy option and quit. I have read and re read your article and I do not see how you can come to a conclusion like this statement "Built like a modern-day Heracles but with the ball-playing skills of a halfback, Burgess could have been anything in union." Note anything in Union!!!! So he could play prop? , Lock? , winger? , 5/8? , HB , open side flanker , all have specialist skill sets and functions even Burgess admitted in RL there are no specific defined functions like union , so now could you say "Burgess could have been anything in union." At least Benji admitted he failed and Jarryd Hayne is still toughing it out!!

It's entirely subjective really then, isn't it. We're comparing apples and oranges. Rugby fans are talking about the international game as the "big stage". Which of course it is. The international rugby union stage is far bigger than the international league stage (mostly due to very poor management of the international game for a long time). But only 22 footballers make that big stage, plus a few who might drift in and out for the odd test. The big stage in Rugby League is state of origin, and the premiership, and occasionally the blockbuster test. So really, the domestic game. And that stage is objectively far bigger than anything domestic rugby has to offer. For most players, the chance to play in front of a packed mcg, sold out Grand Final, sold out world cup final obviously compensates for only getting to play in London and France or Wales or Ireland a few times in their career, and never getting to go to Tokyo or hong Kong.

No, the bigger stage is the Rugby World Cup and the Rugby Championship, it is watched by millions too. In fact even Rugby Sevens is watched by millions of people in almost every country. But then again, Rugby League people just can't count....try and get past the six tackles mate... This Burgess guy didn't really make it, so he is running backwards to run around with the Rabbits again, and who cares anyway. End of story.

My evidence is that Sam openly says he remembers nothing from the first half

Saying Burgess has the ball-playing skills of a half back is a massive stretch. I would say he is an good ball playing forward. James Graham and Frank Pritchard are probably the best and Burgess is up there too. But I've never seen him throw a double cut out pass to a winger or throw an inside ball that fooled the camera man. Other than that I agree with everything you've said. If he keeps his 2014 form up he'll go down as one of the greats

Wouldn't say zero. But one-ish is pretty accurate of Jamie too. Not saying they're bad players, just not a lot of variety there.