Do you know I just might. But it would depend on how much he would cost us and whether we were more in need of an injection of talent else where in the squad. One superstar does not a team make.

Excellent article on the the "utter...utter shambles in the way Sam Burgess was treated"

[urlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3298538/Sam-Burgess-pawn-game-never-stood-chance-betrayal-league-convert-hide-rugby-union-s-failings.html[/url

Nail on head.

An excellent article and as you say hits the nail squarely on the head. Thanks for posting the link

I genuinely want to see England RU do well on the international stage. But until the governing powers accept that they have been left behind by the Southern hemisphere teams, they are going nowhere. Root and branch review of why they have been left behind is required. But my money is that they'll do the very British thing of looking for easy answers that don't identify the real problems much less address them. In the meantime if their insular view ref Sam Burgess means they shy away from poaching RL talent then for me that's a good result (for RL) out of a bad situation (for RU)

England lost the plot a long time ago, when they decided that the "product" and the "brand" we're more important than winning and appointed a squeaky clean ex schoolteacher with no top tier coaching experience to "put things in order".
He was unable to manage the likes of Cipriani, Kyle Eastmond, Dylan Hartley or his own coaching assistants. To even think of blaming Burgess is rediculous.

I don't know much about the likes of Lancaster or how things work in the England camp but I was very surprised when it came out that Lancaster doesn't pick the team but it's done by a vote of him, Farrell and Ford. Obviously you'd expect the coaching team to discuss who should be picked but you'd assume that the head coach has the final say. I can't imagine Wane or even someone as collegiate as McDermott not having the final say on who's picked for each game.

Leeds not out of the race yet. Come on Garry

[urlhttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/01/sam-burgess-rugby-league-south-sydney-rabbitohs-leeds-rhinos-bath[/url

Fantastic and unbiased article

Hmmm.Again, nobody as come out from the Leeds camp and confirmed anything so no getting too excited. Just recycled speculation really that to keep it in the news imo.

Tbf no one was ever going to come out from the Leeds camp and express our interest.

However can't see us getting him if the salary cap isn't an issue for Souths. Think our only hope was if they couldn't fit him until 2017 and he needed to spend a year at Leeds until then.

Although if Souths can afford him on the cap we have little chance of signing Burgess, I believe we have been in for him. The club would rarely come out and claim interest in a player, I cannot remember when we have

I would love Sam at the Rhinos even if it was for one season and to be fair that was all we could have expected

If he goes back to Souths then good on him i say as that is his decision and he will be back in a game that he is not only respected in but one that he is bloody good at too

If he stays in rugger at Bath then we have certainly lost the talents of a man that was born to play RL at its very best

To blame Lancaster for England's ills is just papering over the cracks and failing to accept that the real problems go much deeper with poor coaching at junior and colts level with emphasis on size over skill and winning over performance. For a country with so many players compared to all the other nations it is an indictment of the way we teach and think about the game that we produce so few real world class players.

The constant selection of pedestrian forwards with an outdated game plan of trying to win by getting penalties at the scrum harks back to the amateur days. The massively overrated and arrogant English forwards came off second best against France, in the warm up games, and by both Wales and Australia when it mattered. Not only were we out scrummaged but it was our pack that gave away the penalties. We are also send rate at the breakdown area and our players lack the passing skills and decision making on the hoof of the Southern hemisphere sides.

Since we last won the World cup the southern hemisphere sides have moved the game on to a much more skillful level and we have been left behind trying to play the same style of play with an arrogance that we better at the set plays which we are not. It needs IMO a root and branch review of how we coach and play the game if we are to compete and improve our world status which is now behind Japan in something like 8th spot. We need to get rid of the influence of the likes of Rob Andrew and Billy Beaumont and concentrate on the basic running and passing skills and respect possession.

Tbf I thnk they'd lived off the success of 2003 ever since that World Cup. Since then and since Woodward they've just stumbled along most of the time. They somehow managed by hook or by crook to dragged themselves into the 2007 final but this just gave them the impression that we weren't all that far off.

The whole Northern Hemisphere should have taken note from the absolute schooling they got by NZ in the 2005 Lions tour.They didn't, and for the large part carried on regardless.This is the result

The way the game of rugby union is played in Europe is different to how is played in the southern hemisphere. This world cup confirmed to me that it's nut the game i dislike, it's how is played over here.

Some pundits blaming the weather for but being British enough, that's just laughable. The rugby played from the top four in the competition is completely unachievable for the british teams. A big overhaul is needed

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34694828 This is what Tom Burgess had to say about it in the England dressing room when interviewed on the Red Button channel. Says Sam still hasn't decided yet which goes against Mike Ford's confident claims that Burgess has only been looking forward with regards to his RU career.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34694828 This is what Tom Burgess had to say about it in the England dressing room when interviewed on the Red Button channel. Says Sam still hasn't decided yet which goes against Mike Ford's confident claims that Burgess has only been looking forward with regards to his RU career.

Of course it never rains in New Zealand!

In fairness the Welsh pushed Australia all the way and but for a diabolical piece of refereeing Scotland would have knocked them out. I don't rate SA that highly, they play a very European style, biff and barge in the forwards and when they played NZ recently as soon as they came under pressure they began kicking the ball away every time they got it. SA do have more class in the midfield though, some real power and pace.
Argentina have come on massively since they created the Championship and they now compete with the big 3 every year.

There should be no reason for England to be down. The juniors have been world champions several times in the last few years, the junior game is producing real results. High quality, super confident and skilful kids are coming through.

Souths looking to pay back the fee they got for Burgess with Bath trying to tap them up for more.
Souths may have to offload to get him under the cap with Leeds working with Souths to take him for a year before going back to Oz.
Leeds hoping Souths will put the money in to buy out his contract and Burgess becoming our marquee signing.
Nothing certain at this stage and if a deal cannot be done clearly he stays a RU player for the foreseeable.

Can't really see the point in him staying put at Bath for just one year continuing to cop flak and his heart not in it. If he stays in RU, which is fair enough by me, he goes for the long haul now and learns the new position and works his way back into the England fold, or moves back to RL now. Maybe that is where we still have the glimmer of hope of taking him for this coming year if Souths is a no go.

Tom ain't going to reveal anything before Sam does. Sam - allegedly - has told more than one RL player that his union days are over.

Just to clarify.
I meant if a deal cannot be done he will stay a RU player with Bath for the foreseable in other words probably the next few years or more.

@ukozleaguescoop: Burgess Plan B reported in the Syd press suggested he play a season for Leeds in '16 before linking with Souths in '17 #Leeds #NRL #Souths

Twitter this morning.

Suggested that bath are after a fee of £800k. Bradford must be pig sick they're seeing none of it, given their role in his development.

But if his heart isn't in it and he just wants to go back to Aus then it makes the task of learning a new position in a different code all that much tougher. You'd suspect that if they didn't get him now that Souths will come back in 12 months time and go for him again, this time having had more time to sort out their squad salary cap wise to include him.

Unless he comes to Leeds for the year