I'm an Melbourne based Rhinos Fan (originally from Leeds) and this is all over the sports news at the moment, with all the usual hype.

South's have recently released a statement advising that they have had no approach for a release from Burgess' contract from either his management, RFU or any Union Clubs but we all know that could be a "at the timing of writing" thing....

Hopefully this is all just a bit of posturing to get Sammy an upgraded deal, which to be honest I think the kid probably deserves. He's up there in the top forwards in the competition.

As for the brothers George is quite obviously safe, and hopefully will build on last season. I think they see Tom as a prospect that can provide adequate cover when necessary and Luke is just there to complete the set. I think if any of them make the move back I'd guess Tom as Luke has a young family over in Aus but that's just my ponderings..

To be honest though, all the exposure these kids get over here is generally positive (a couple of car window smashing, nude selfie sending, ball twisting exemptions) and the view they put across is that they really enjoy the Aussie life. I certainly couldn't see myself changing it for Bath but then again......a couple of million quid may change my mind on that.

Lets hope Sam stays....

Gary Hetherington gave the firm opinion last night on Radio Leeds that this story was pure speculation and probably impossible to achieve given the amounts of money that it would require to make it happen <shrugs shoulders>

I know a pretty nice kebab shop in Bath. That might be a clincher for him?

Sam's a great rugby league talent. England's finest probably. But there's no guarantee at all that would transfer into union. History could show you that with dozens of casualties either way. More recently look how Andy Powell has been around the Wigan side nearly a year and he looks nowhere near at the level to compete in Super League let alone at international level. Sam has the skill, speed, size and hands to a be a force in either code but rugby league probably suits him better. He wouldn't be offered (in union) the same space and time which makes him so destructive in league. But maybe a 2 million pound deal may make it an experiment worth trying.

Aren't Union producing their own backs? If they had their way their backs would look something like:

15 S Tomkins
14 Ashton
13 J Tomkins
12 Burgess
11 Eastmond
10 Faz


Saying that I understanding why they're doing this, I believe

15 Tomkins
14 Charnley
13 Watkins
12 Lockers
11 Hall
10 Sinfield
9 Roby

would be a considerably better backs than they currently have!

I don't think it will happen purely because I don't think there is a position where he would exel at.

If you played him at centre, you'd get a few runs where he shrugs tacklers off like flies, and he'd smash a few people, but he may be exposed a bit out wide with lots of space and quick backs. You'd also only get the good bits when the ball gets out to the backs, so about twice a game.

If you wnated to make better use of his time you would have him somewhere in the back row. You'd be unlikely to get as many big hits out of him due to the nature of the close range contact, but you'd benefit from his endurance and ball carrying. The biggest question mark is how quickly can he pick up the position specific skills of a RU forward, also from a S&C point of view and RU forward and an RL forward are comepltely different, so there would have to be a change in his routines there too

Yeah, i'm sure that factors into burgess thinking.

Money - check
Chance to win with country (realistic chance) - check
chance to become a national icon (ru much higher profile) - check
get's to come home (as nice as aus is, it's not home) - check

But oh no, the RU are desperate to have me, but i think i'll turn it down because i don't think i'll play very well (no professional sportsmen at high level as that mentality).

If it's the RFU's thinking you mean, they obviously think he can excel hence they will pay big $$$$.

RL once again being shown up as the small fry it is.

If Joel Tomkins, Brad Barritt, and Billy Twelvetrees can play in the centres for the England RU team then Sam Burgess can without a doubt, he's in a different stratosphere in terms of ability to those 3.

He can play there. Would he be a perfect fit there? Probably not IMO.

As has already been said, he'll do some good things with ball in hand creating physical mismatches against smaller outside backs. He'll hit some people hard in the contact.

He's got zero kicking game though. He's going to be one of the slower centres in the top flight. He'll need to be brought along slowly until he learns how to function in the tackle area and the nuances of retaining/winning possession after the tackle.

For the money he's going to cost someone, he's not going to provide value for money in the short term. English club rugby union is not swimming in surplus cash that it can afford to waste on "projects" when they can go out and sign a ready made player from elsewhere.

This whole thing is the RFU trying to play Billy Big-Balls in the media and generate some hype. They've clearly not learned from the expensive on-field failure that was Andy Farrell.

I was thinking from the Rfu point of view. If the offerwas there Burgess would have to consider it, but it's an expensive ggamble on their part.

Another thing to factor in is the ill-feeling the RFU are generating among their top-flight clubs with these kind of "sponsored" deals.

If the RFU are stumping up a massive transfer fee effectively because Bath can't afford to, how are the other 11 Premiership clubs going to feel about that? There have already been some negative mutterings.

Similarly in Wales over Sam Warburton's recent deal to prevent him going to France.
The whole business is an indictment of the much vaunted development produced by the RU academies at all levels, despite their financial clout, that they feel the need to go elsewhere to find a possibly half decent centre.

If true seems a bizarre signing, it's challenging enough to move codes without the added pressure of not playing in his normal position .
I would have thought a more sensible signing would have been Sam Tompkins ,play him at stand off ,sorry I meant fly half. Then move Farell to inside centre.
England are woeful in the centre position at the moment.
I often thought Keith Senior in his prime would have been sensational playing for England RU.
When the England coaching and managing staff were assembling the World Cup winning squad,they had a list of top RL players they wanted to sign.
Apparently the blazers at twickenham chickened out, anyway good old Jason Robinson did enough on his own to win the World Cup .
I would love to know just who they wanted apart from Robinson . As I mentioned before senior would have been superb
as would Kieron Cunningham.

Senior in his youth played RU for Huddersfield YMCA I believe.
I agree he would have been a great RU centre, not sure about his kicking game though.
I always thought that Brian O'Driscoll would have been sensational in RL.