Sam Burgess for England 2015

First topic message reminder :

My news feed has just been bombarded with news that NRL superstar Sam Burgess has signed a 3 year deal with an english premiership club.

It is also reported that the RFU paid a significant part in raising the money to ensure his release from his contract, he will be heading to Bath according to reports.

I haven't seen much of him in the NRL perhaps someone with better knowledge could comment on how good he actually is?

The big Questions on my mind are:

Where will he play ?

Does England have room for him ?

Exciting times.  

Its not ££££s as he could have earned more staying in League.

Obviously feels its his best chance of winning a world cup. Or maybe he just wanted to meet John Inverdale.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Obviously feels its his best chance of winning a world cup. Or maybe he just wanted to meet John Inverdale.

Only one presenter i dislike more and thats that Adrian Childs..

how come league has more money than Union when it isn't as global?

Barney McGrew did it wrote:

Biltong wrote:too many comments to read here, does anyone know his reasons for moving to Union?

He found RL a bit girlie for his monsta stylie

It's obvious isnt it? his knees must be shot. After all that's what they usually say   

It sounds much too cute...just like the SBW occasional Rugby Union player when-the-time-is-right situation is.

So it's Bath until he sees has he a sniff at the WC? - then?
Depending on the success of that, back to League post England selection and WC OR back to League post not getting selected for England or getting to the WC?

Maybe that's not his thinking and if not, so be it, welcome to Union.  If it is his thinking, then he's a maverick mercenary working for 'Team Burgess' - and keeping other English players away from their dream wouldn't be right at all as he jets back to League after the WC.

Some of you are so negative!

Maybe he just fancied living in Bath as opposed to living in a dump like Sydney.

Biltong wrote:too many comments to read here, does anyone know his reasons for moving to Union?

He has spoken of his ambition to become a dual international. No idea when that idea would have taken root, because it probably wasn't there when he went to Australia. If the 2015 World Cup really is a genuine target, then he should have switched earlier, which suggests he has only started considering it recently.

He also mentioned it was an opportunity to go home. Again, that sounds like a new line of thought. Previously, England held bad memories of his father's death, and it looked like the family had settled for the long haul in Australia. I can see how returning to English rugby league might seem like a comedown, whereas a new challenge in union gives a better pretext.

I think Lancaster put his finger on it. If Burgess doesn't get out of the gates in his first season, then he'll certainly miss the next World Cup. However, if he gets into his stride in the second season, there's still an England tour of Australia in 2016, a Lions Tour of New Zealand in 2017, an England tour of South Africa in 2018, and the next World Cup in 2019. Not to mention Six Nations and Autumn Internationals. I'm sure Bath also have ambitions to make an impact in club rugby again.

Thanks rugbyfan

Of course everyone has been talking up the 2015 WC opportunity, however regardless of whether that is a realistic option or not (and I'm not in any way discounting the fact that money always talks in these situations) what nobody has mentioned is that beyond the WC and all the other international opportunities; AI's, 6N's and the end of year tours, beyond all of this is the fact that Bath both on and off the field are putting together a very handsome proposition which is stuffed with ambition and backed by all of Bruce Craig's hundreds of millions.

So apart from everything else he is now going to have the opportunity to play club rugby in the AP and HC against the best sides in Europe. Now all this maybe small beer motivation when compared to the media's WC or bust perspective, however as a professional rugby player the opportunity to travel and experience different opposition all across the rugby playing world, if not immediately apparent, certainly will be an appreciated added bonus

kingelderfield wrote:... what nobody has mentioned...is the fact that Bath both on and off the field are putting together a very handsome proposition

I did, just a couple of posts above.

Guardian has this article today:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/17/sam-burgess-rugby-code-switch-world-cup

I see the contract gives Sydney right of first refusal if he should decided to switch back to League.

It'll be interesting to see how long Burgess will give himself if he finds the switch a struggle. You'd think he ought to give it at least two seasons, given that he's likely to miss the start of the first.

Rugby Fan wrote:

kingelderfield wrote:... what nobody has mentioned...is the fact that Bath both on and off the field are putting together a very handsome proposition

I did, just a couple of posts above. Derr.....so you did...opps!
Guardian has this article today:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/17/sam-burgess-rugby-code-switch-world-cup

I see the contract gives Sydney right of first refusal if he should decided to switch back to League.

It'll be interesting to see how long Burgess will give himself if he finds the switch a struggle. You'd think he ought to give it at least two seasons, given that he's likely to miss the start of the first.

Crystal balls and all....hopefully the opportunity to win either domestically and or internationally and maybe the Lions will be enough. I've got all fingers in the air on this one but i'm struggling to fathom his motivation precisely. Stab in the dark, I think he's the real deal who is giving himself every opportunity whilist looking after his retirement at the same time......I might have changed my mind in 10 minutes though....

Andy Farrell talking about Burgess:

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/rugby-union/9172344/farrell-backing-burgess

Scrumpy wrote:Some of you are so negative!

Maybe he just fancied living in Bath as opposed to living in a dump like Sydney.

I think the Bra Boys have given him an ultimatum: "this little Coogee rock-pool ain't big enough for the both of us... and your Mum and brothers."

(there also might have been some complaints from Richie Benaud to "move on")

Of course, the move to Barf is a bit of a gamble.

I wouldn't be too concerned about his size and fitness (NRL second to none in getting players up to the highest level) but he'd need to modify his tackling style. Shoulder charges have been outlawed in RL too... some of the footage on the videos is pre-2012 or whenever the new Law came in. He still gets pinged by the refs quite a bit though.

I could see him slotting into the centres - he has an awesome offload. He'll also be a brick wall in defence one-on-one but can see him being left for dead versus someone with too fleet a foot or a big sidestep. There's plenty of time to work on his tackling style but it will be a test for him to see how he copes defensively without his gang a fellow forwards at the Rabbitohs out in the open spaces of the backline.

Biltong wrote:
how come league has more money than Union when it isn't as global?

G'day bilts, how you doing?

I know it seems strange as league is not global, but remember in Oz league is way above rugby, though below rules, so back home the big money, and crowds, will be with league and not rugby (though rules tops them both), and with it the kudos of playing in a sport that has television coverage and a well defined league structure, hence the money.

Hope that helped?

Barrie-Jon Mather thinks Burgess switched codes because he enjoyed the experience of playing in front of large crowds at the Rugby League World Cup.

http://www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/story/216157.html

Looks like Sam Tomkins has indicated he might look for a move in the future too - he's only just moved down to Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/sam-tomkins-tempted-by-rugby-union-switch-20140222-33911.html

Salford Red Devils want to turn the tide by signing big Union names:

http://www.totalrl.com/web/five-rugby-union-players-thrive-rugby-league/

Rugby Fan wrote:Barrie-Jon Mather thinks Burgess switched codes because he enjoyed the experience of playing in front of large crowds at the Rugby League World Cup.

http://www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/story/216157.html

Looks like Sam Tomkins has indicated he might look for a move in the future too - he's only just moved down to Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/sam-tomkins-tempted-by-rugby-union-switch-20140222-33911.html

Salford Red Devils want to turn the tide by signing big Union names:

http://www.totalrl.com/web/five-rugby-union-players-thrive-rugby-league/

Ashton also said he wanted to play 'on a bigger stage'. Bless

It looks like the NRL pays similar to that in France.

From a quick internet search it said the top players earnt 1MM AUD pa which is about 650k EUR. Thats about the same a JW and Sexton. The top10 ave. was about 500k EUR against about 550k EUR for the top10 paid players in the top14.

However the NRL is standout in the game whereas in union England, Japan, and even the SH are not too far behind.

So overall I would say the NRL sounds like it is reasonably powerful from a financial perspective domestically but overall union is has more depth and financial strength.

munkian wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Barrie-Jon Mather thinks Burgess switched codes because he enjoyed the experience of playing in front of large crowds at the Rugby League World Cup.

http://www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/story/216157.html

Looks like Sam Tomkins has indicated he might look for a move in the future too - he's only just moved down to Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/sam-tomkins-tempted-by-rugby-union-switch-20140222-33911.html

Salford Red Devils want to turn the tide by signing big Union names:

http://www.totalrl.com/web/five-rugby-union-players-thrive-rugby-league/

Ashton also said he wanted to play 'on a bigger stage'. Bless

The guy is out of form..... but 2 years ago he was joint top scorer in the RWC, scored the IRB try of the year 2010 and possibly the finest try and Englishman has ever scored at Twickenham and had scored 15 tries in his first 18 test matches. Its not like he been playing off Quade Cooper with multiple chances each game... He'll come back.

fa0019 wrote:It looks like the NRL pays similar to that in France.

From a quick internet search it said the top players earnt 1MM AUD pa which is about 650k EUR.

The NRL Salary Cap is A$5.5m for the top 25 remunerated players (A$325k extra to cover all players outside the top 25). In addition there is a A$600k Marquee Player(s) allowance. That is just under A$250k per person on average, and that figure falls very rapidly if there are players on A$1m.

http://www.nrl.com/nrlhq/referencecentre/salarycap/tabid/10434/default.aspx


Now apparently Sam Burgess was paid A$1m by the Rabbitohs, not annually but spread over his 4 year contract.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/how-souths-snared-one-of-games-best-forwards-for-a-mere-1million-20100510-uot6.html