Rumours in Aussie press that Sam is off to Union for 2015 m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw ... 6815622240

Rumours in Aussie press that Sam is off to Union for 2015 m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw ... 6815622240

Well the RFU did get lucky with Jason Robinson - but since then Farrell, and Henry and Big Les ( the last two clearly not English) did not exactly bring the house down at Twickenham. I would also have thought it would be a big ask to try to get someone who has played as a league forward for his whole career to become an international union forward in a year. But then if you have the money like the RFU they don't seem to think you need sense.

It seems a typical Union tactic, who's the biggest name in League? Right, let's drive up to their house with a truck full of money and an England shirt and ask them to sign up

Article says he is under contract to Rabbitohs till end of 2016 so assume RU would pay compo to Club?

Not if they can help it, but i think it's more to do with the England RU teams recent performances. Panic buying

I hate Union and the RFU with a passion, but who could blame Sam for switching codes if this is true? He would be made financially for life, and would get more sporting kudos in this country than he ever would if he stayed in League. Plus, it will be a lot easier on his body in the long run.

It's a sad state of affairs, but he's got to look after himself and his future.

He'd be mad to go since playing in the forwards in union requires a totally different skills set. If he was a back I could see the attraction as there's less to learn. He's got great skills so why take them to a game that doesn't give you opportunity to use them?

Really hope this turns out to be rubbish and he doesn't leave RL.

We could do without the type of publicity that would ensue if he went.

The only upside would be if it was made clear that it was just a one year sabbatical from South Sydney. Plus he'd need a very strong indication from Stuart Lancaster that he would be in the England RU World Cup team.

If it came to it, he would be a fantastic inside centre for England RU. (Had to laugh when Andy Farrell played inside centre for England RU In the RU World Cup - after he had slowed down to such an extent that he was playing prop towards the end with Wigan!).

I don't think Burgess is quick enough for centre really. He's skilful and more than big enough but taking endless "crash balls" would be an utter waste of talent. However I suppose it would beat leaning on the side of a maul or getting his ar5e raked at the bottom of a ruck.

He would need to come back to England and all of his family are down under. England don't pick players playing outside of UK. But that offer if true could set him up for life and he could then return to league three years later. What a great offer for him if true. Oh where did I go wrong?

Having gone off the wagon & watching 5 minutes of yawnion on Saturday, why the hell would anyone want to play that stinking pile of poop? Sam is hardly destitute now.

Regrettably no one has ever offered me £2m for a couple of years work, so I cannot claim to speak from experience - but looking at examples close to hand probably the same reason that Henry P, Big Les and Hape did brief laps at Twickenham.

The RFU would not bat an eyelid about playing 15 ex-Bulls players - providing of course they came from NZ

But those players had arguably achieved all they were likely to in league. Burgess is on the brink of greatness at the highest level possible in either code. He can retire to yawnion in 5 years.

Fair point but the other factor is the amount of "celebrity status" yawnion players seem to command in this country which would probably mean offers to go dancing on Saturday evenings in the autumn and no doubt a multi-million pound deal for modelling Y-fronts like Dan Carter. I had hoped that one day Big Sam would have lifted the Rugby League World Cup.

I can see that as a fair point if he were ever planning to live back here.

I figure he's probably going to stay where he is, in which case he's in the best sport to be considered a celebrity.

Maybe he just wants some kind of "dual-code" contract like SBW where he can dip in and out of either team, dependent on where each code is in the World cup (or British Lions) cycle.

Not according to Souths

[urlhttp://www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/9152475/south-sydney-rabbitohs-no-rugby-union-approach-for-england-forward-sam-burgess[/url

Is Caisley still his 'agent'?

I just knew you were a closet rah rah fan!

Well the story doing the Hack rounds is that Sam didn't like having his hands slapped by McGuire for some ""trivial"" disciplinary incidents and that the Team Inglis especially didn't appreciate Sam and the Brothers getting all the extra publicity. Also Sam gets mercilessly pilloried by the Oz ereatti as being an out and out thug when he's no worse than anyone else in the NRL

Because he will realise that Union offers so much more than League ever will?

Like a genuine world game? A competitive international game and World Cup? Financial gain? Crowds? Heineken Cup? Lions tours?

RU is lightyears ahead of RL. Burgess will be well aware of this.

Having grown up playing and watching yawnion I feel qualified to say it is a pile of boring poop compared to league. Just because it is hyped up by the press doesn't mean that Burgess will find it satisfying. As much as it gets huge publicity & international crowds yawnion is not a world game, it is played competitively in only a handful more countries than league. 90% of the world will not have seen a game.

I am not arguing that the game is not very dull. It is. RL is the superior game to watch, but RU is BY FAR the bigger game worldwide.

Let's just have a wee look.

Internationally we have the 6 nations, the southern hemisphere four nations, the Autumn test series, and a World Cup with a number of sides with a hope, rather than not having a prayer.

There are strong sides in Aus, NZ, South Africa, England, Ireland, Argentina, France and Wales. There are secondary countries like Scotland, Italy, Samoa, Tonga, Romania, and Fiji.

Club wise there are strong leagues in France, England, Japan, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. There is the Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup, Super 15, Celtic League, Anglo Welsh Cup.

Despite your claim that 90% have not seen a game and it is only played of a handful more countries than league there are 101 registered international RU playing nations.

There is also a World Sevens competition annually.

You usually have it spot on TT (in fact you are one of the few I cannot ever remember arguing with

) but these claims really do make you sound like so many other RL fans with a chip on their shoulder in regards to the other code. There is so much jealousy from RL towards the other code it is untrue.

Back in the days when the Amateur RU game existed, I doubt there was much dissent from RL fans when the better Union players switched codes. Now the shoe is on the other foot it is a source of derision.

Like it or not, RU has a strong international audience and participation, RL is pretty much only played to any standard in four COUNTIES in the world, Lancashire, Yorkshire, NSW and Queensland.

Utter nonsense.

What about Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Humberside?

Heh heh. Clever.

Sadly for you though I had my disclaimer already by saying that it was only played to any standard in the four counties I highlighted.