This would be a huge loss for RL imo he should be the England/GB skipper now.
If he does switch to RU though i definately see him more as a 6,7 or 8 it would be a big coup for the RFU all the same.

If they don't make it happen until the end of this current season then it'll be too late. Both Jason Robinson and SBW were playing RU for around 3 years before the World Cup they took part in. Even with Burgess' talent, to expect him to go straight into a World Cup standard RU player in a single season is unrealistic.

For me its a sad indictment of Rugby Union, imagine if the boot was on the other foot, we would be up in arms if we had signed a Rugby Union forward to play centre for our national side.

I was under the impression that the RFU weren't going to bankroll this sort of move anymore.

Moreover, I don't see a big payoff for them. He's a phenomenal athlete and he'll do well enough, but he's almost perfectly designed to be an RL forward. He isn't going to be significantly better at centre than is already there and RU's back row is a hugely specialised department with skills that he doesn't have. He could learn them, but not by the world cup, and there are no guarantees.

If he's being offered a monumental stack of cash he should take it I suppose, but I don't see it working in the long term.

Down here it's well known that Burgess for all his talent is not on big bucks. I see it as leverage to be on Inglis, Smith, Thurston money.

On a similar topic. I recon we will see a return to better NRL players moving to SL as the pound strengthens against the Dollar. Maybe another reason Burgess is looking for a better deal, probably from Souths.

It would be gutting if he saved the fraud Lancaster's Job.

Expect to see Luke back in SL very shortly - the only reason he got an invite to Oz in the first place was to keep his bro company.

The same could be said for Tom as well. Both Luke and Tom will undoubtedly be on bigger money than they would have got anywhere else. If Sam leaves then he'll have left Souths with one very good brother and two average ones earning too much (although Tom could improve a lot). Sam leaving Souths would also diminish "brand Burgess" significantly - and therefore the future earnings of the lesser brothers outside of the game.

Regardless of how much "compensation" Souths get, players as good as Burgess are very rare. For England RL Sam Burgess is literally irreplaceable. Sam has played along with the whole "living the dream" alongside his brothers, and for him to walk away from that would show it was always a crock.

Fair play to Burgess if he goes, more money & more recognition but to me it does scream desperation from RFU in doing this for their big 2015 showpiece

Could blow up in Englands face here

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