it was a stupid purchase on their behalf, made no sense whatsoever.

I think the home nations would improve their chances if the RFU would actually allow players to shrug off the mantle of having to work within approved set plays. Their guidelines don't seem to cater for individual flair or enterprise & thinking out of the box is a cardinal sin.

Southern hemisphere teams are much more successful because their players are allowed to be individuals to a certain extent, & the emerging nations just seem to play what is in front of them & do produce watchable rugby at times.

Unfortunately though, i think Sam was always a likely scapegoat.

Niners...Your first paragraph could also describe the modern RL game.

Indeed. Been indulging in some of brens fine videos from the 80s/90s lately and so much wonderful off the cuff rugby you rarely see anymore. Plenty of biff, characters and running duels....marvellous. God mark Roberts was class.

Yes Brian, i think maybe spreading the ball from the first tackle could even confuse defences & lead to a more open game. The game does seem a bit predictable at times these days.

Was funny listening to the radio this morning when the Burgess story was raised, the interviewees all falling over themselves to say how he wasn't made a scapegoat for the WC failure. They played the bloke in the wrong position FFS..(and no, I don't know what position would suit him best in RU, that game is still a mystery to me)


Oh and Stephen Jones, the most hated man in NZ after he wrote a piece condemning the Haka!

I'm pretty sure he said the very same thing in 1995.

The conspiracy theorist in me always saw this as union putting us in our place from the off.

A grand plan to show us up.

1st Remove the English poster boy from the game.
2nd Fast track him in the sport knowing he isn't ready.
3rd Blame him for the most prominent loss
4th Show the world that league is poor because their poster boy can't play the game.

Wow! How do you sleep at night?

Yeah. Not sure how the million pound investment they have made in Burgess and the embarassing exit from the World Cup tie in with that however.

I think Sam was just trying to be like SBW. World Cup is done now so flit back to League to play NRL until the next World Cup. The team's poor performance has probably ruined that business model for him.

Well, when I wear my tinfoil hat, those aliens won't look into my thoughts

Think you mean aluminium, tin is soooo last century...

Everything about the English RFU's campaign in their World Cup has been a disaster - the order of the England fixtures was misguided at best and arrogant at worst, and as for waving shedloads of cash under prop forward Sam Burgess's nose and then expecting him to play in the centres after only a few months trying to learn the arcane rules of their version of the game, words fail me.

Do any us believe there is a chance we could sign Sam burgess? My neighbour used to be a scout for the wire and told me how we could have signed him on a junior contract/y t s type deal for 80 quid a week a few years back but Simon didn't want to do any deal in an underhanded way. Credit to Simon and his morals but it's fair to say Sam won't be on 80 quid a week for his next club

Incisive...I do hope you stay and offer further worthwhile contributions.

If only I had a "neighbour who used to be a scout for the Wire".

I have a neighbour whose cat makes "full use" of my garden.

Tbh i would not be surprised if Sam does leave Barth that he would go back to Oz where by all accounts he has a good relationship with the club & a totally different lifestyle to the UK. Who knows, at the end of his rugby career, he could be wowing cinema audiences in a Russell Crowe epic.

A very good article on Sam by Oliver Holt MoS Fairly and squarely behind Sam Burgess, laying not just the world cup fiasco but Unions stagnation at the RFU door, a good honest article, tells it as he sees it.

Agree it was a more honest assessment of what has gone on with Sam and his mismanagement at club and national level

www.zerotackle.com/nrl/burgess-t ... ion-19570/

www.zerotackle.com/nrl/burgess-t ... ion-19570/

Oliver Holts article was superb. And then I read in the Times today that Sam is making a big mistake if he goes back now. They just don't get it. A man being groomed at flanker at Bath is thrown in to the national team at centre when he hasn't even had time to learn the game properly. Lancaster and Farrell are the real culprits where Sam is concerned.

Leeds have confirmed their interest. www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... am-burgess

Leeds have confirmed their interest. www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... am-burgess

Sam Burgess will go back to South Sydney if he comes back to league.

End of.