A quick change form the announcements by Bath and the RFU but great to have him back www.rlbet.co.uk/sam-burgess-re-s ... -rabbitohs

A quick change form the announcements by Bath and the RFU but great to have him back www.rlbet.co.uk/sam-burgess-re-s ... -rabbitohs

Rabbitohs Members have received an Email stating Sam Burgess has signed a 2 year deal with them (2016-201icon_cool.gif. Not coming anywhere near us then.

Sadly not it would seem. Can't fault Leeds for giving it a good go though. But with out wanting to offend the good citizens of Leeds, if you had the choice of living and playing in Sydney with your close family around you or moving back to sunny West Yorks, even if the money was as good, what would you do?

Find it interesting that all the deals now end at end of 2018.

Good luck if that's what he (or his Mrs) wants. Never honestly thought Leeds were in the mix, especially when GH went public. Part of me happy he's back in RL, the majority frustrated that SL clearly can't compete with either NRL or RU. Coming to Leeds (the only club which could get close to giving him a deal) was clearly a very distant third choice. Not the future of #wallofwhite in my opinion

It says 2018 but it's a 3 year deal, so must be 2019.

2016, 2017, 2018 seasons = three year deal.

I think one thing is certain we will never see Sam playing club rugby in SL. Think he will see out his career in NRl. On the skywebsite saying glad he had been released to return back home and enjoyed his time in England

Oh I see what they mean now

I read somewhere some journo suggesting that the 2018 end date could allow Burgess to do a SBW and try RU again just before the next WC. Unbelievable nonsense.

Quote from Will Greenwood in the Daily Telegraph:

"I heard three weeks ago that Leeds Rhinos had offered Kallum Watkins in part-exchange."

I hope to god that is absolute garbage.

It was nonsense. It was Burgess camp that approached Leeds in the first place, not the other way round, and why Leeds thought there was a deal to be done.

I am not saying Watkins may not have been a demand later, and possibly why Leeds couldn't get the deal done, but Leeds certainly were not making the offers at the start.

I believe and hopefully I'm correct that is BS. Because if it isn't it suggests that either a) Watkins was in the loop and presumably has expressed some RU ambitions. b) He was in the loop but didn't want to go to RU or c) wasn't in the loop and was being treated as a trading commodity. None of which would encouraging IMO.

All it means is that Will Greenwood heard the same rumour any of here heard. Doesn't mean it was in any way true.

Totally agree with you which is why I started with





I was musing about how bad things might be [size=150IF[/size the talk of Leeds offering a player swap weren't just rumours.

It is a good and balanced article from Will Greenwood and worth reading. Greenwood is an ex England centre but also a League fan who attended the Grand Final rather than the England game on the same day.

For him to mention the Watkins rumour indicates he thought there was something in it and the comment about Eastmond preparing to walk if Sam was selected at 12 rather suggests there was confusion over which position he wanted to play.

His transition has been very badly managed at both club and country level where he was put in an invidious position with his teammates. When you add this to being blamed for England's WC exit and the Euro immigrant crisis it was no wonder he became disillusioned with Union.

If Burgess indeed did approach Leeds this would indicate that the homesick aspect of his reason for leaving was not the main one.

[urlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/sam-burgess/11978751/Sam-Burgess-return-to-league-is-damning-indictment-of-union.html[/url

For a man so obviously in the loop as Greenwood is I'm astounded he didn't make some of this knowledge public at the time. After all, it's what he's paid to do these days.

Spot on. To allegedly know of it for 3 weeks and not say anything makes it doubtful to me.

Perhaps he was told in confidence and is a man of integrity?

Well everybody knows the homesickness thing is a lie anyway. This is a guy who went to Australia and wasn't joined by his family for another 18 months-2 years so he knew full well what moving to the other side of the world away from them felt like. This occasion though he at least had his fiancée with him. I very much doubt he'd be feeling homesick if he'd have spent the last week celebrating a World Cup win and was being praised for his role in it.

Over time, the books and articles will be written by the main protagonists involved and we'll get to know exactly what happened behind the scenes.

I very much doubt that.

You're more likely to get three different versions of events (Ford/Bath, Lancaster/England Rugby, & Burgess). People will then have to decide which parts of each they believe most. And then the whole saga/debate will re-start......

An interesting (& highly irritating) side point to this saga: the BBC, Sky etc's take on the latest events seems to be almost wholly from a Union standpoint/bias. Any number of ex-Union internationals/pundits have been trotted out to give their opinion. Have these national media outlets sought out the opinions of McNamara/Kear/McDermott/Eddie & Stevo etc etc? I have heard virtually no upbeat reporting on how great this is for RL. Equally, when the boot was on the other foot 12 months ago & Burgess was poached by Union (no difference in my eyes), lo & behold all the upbeat talk from the media on how great this was & Union pundits again are the only ones in sight.

I realise some may see this as a "chip on the shoulder" post, but really I do find the balance of reporting distorted

Not surprising - it is. Those of an enquiring mind may be persuaded to dig deeper though, as might the odd journo (although in my experience the sports ones have some of the least enquiring minds going).

Their's comments from McNamara and Jon Wilkin in the BBC website. The angle the whole thing is taking now though isn't really blaming Burgess anymore, it's attacking England RU and they way they handled it and even former RU players and coaches coming out saying Burgess could've been great IF he'd been given time and RU have let a diamond slip out of their hands.

Clive Woodward has been pretty spot on in his views,

"The RFU has spent the last four years congratulating itself on the direction in which we're heading, but the truth is we have marched confidently into a total mess,"

"We are the laughing stock of not only world rugby but also sport and business. The rest of the world says those involved in English rugby are arrogant. I hate this reputation, but that is exactly what the RFU has been

Please God know, not those two on BBC Breakfast as the voice of RL, we'd never live it down