The irony of you posting that after a SL season that delivered more fans purely because there were 12 more games is quite delicious.........

In other news......has Sam ever been on the winning side against 'stralia? Maybe that's what was talking to Izzy about......at least in the AFL he couldn't lose to the national side....

I have played Union from age 7 to age 43 & other than the odd broken leg/dislocated fingers etc i loved every minute of it (both during & post-match).

However, NEVER have I watched a Union game & felt "that was worth 2 hours of my time".

The best way to watch RU I find is some time after the match has finished, with Sky controller in hand. x6, x12 or x30 speed with which I watch it depends on the relative turgidity before me.

coolest story ever bro.......tell the 8 million watching the RWC or the 6 Nations....I'm sure they'd be swayed immediately

Keep going, the century beckons

Can we get Sam back in League before this post reaches 100 pages?

To sum the guy up. I asked my wife to compare the photos of Sam and Jamie Roberts before the Wales game. I asked her to say who she thought was the heaviest, her answer Roberts. Gobsmacked when I told her it was the other way around, the bloke is probably one of the best athletes on the planet IMO

Agree that he should come 'home'. Some of the articles and comments from some called Union experts are down right disgraceful and smacks of nothing but class snobbery. If the England union forwards were nearly as good as Sam they might just have a decent team.

And don't get me started on the opinion of some that the failure to qualify was due to the Northern influence on their precious game.

You've done it now - we love a challenge on here, tha' knows

Sam Burgess is so good that despite having limited experience in Union and even more limited as a centre he completely eclipsed Jamie Roberts and shut him out of the game. On the other hand Roberts struggled to contain Burgess and needed assistance by way of Wales adjusting their defensive structure to put 2 players on Burgess.

This is the much lauded Jamie Roberts, one of the best centres in World Rugby Union, veteran of almost 150 Top Tier Club games, 72 Test matches for Wales, 1 Barbarians appearance and 3 X a Lions Rep. COMPLETELY SHUT OUT BY BURGESS!

England were twice 10 points up and still 7 points ahead when Burgess left the field, only morons and bigoted idiots with an agenda would blame Burgess for that loss.

Why on earth would I wish to tell that to 8 million RWC watchers?

That would be akin to me haranguing the 7 million Eastenders viewers that their choice of TV soap is crap.

Each to their own, there's no accounting for taste etc etc

We got him back! Welcome home Sam!! I knew it was only a matter of time (& Sam achieving an ambition to play in the RUWC) when I saw his face during his Union debut as explained in OP.

well, many of us said he only went to play in this WC and that he had had assurances he would be in the squad as part of the deal to move.despite being rubbished by many other people it now appears that was correct.

1 years 'rest' from the rigorous NRL, time in the spotlight worldwide and a bag full of cash to return still with his prime years left.Whatever way you look at it i doubt Sam Burgess regrets his year out.