He would be far too athletic to play in the forwards in Union. He's also likely to have more skill than any of the actual RU backs (ie the few who haven't been poached from RL).

You can almost smell the bitterness in some of the pots on here

Massive mistake for both Sam and the RFU IMHO.......he won't add a single bum to a seat at games given he is virtually unknown in Britain and he will not be the star that patently some think he can be in the English game. The French currently have a heavy set (union-speak for chunky) Centre who they hoped would crash and unload.....he has been weighed and found out by the opposition already. As for SBW, he played a minor role in the AB's winning the RWC in 2011........he is a show pony that again has been pretty well collared at international level...6 tries with 1 against France, 1 against Canada and 2 against Japan and Ireland each.....the difference with him is that he has at least a bit of box office, but he won't add bums to seats when he returns to the chiefs next year.

Too much attention played to these players IMHO.......the game is bigger than any player.

He's mobile enough for back row, but do you really see the RFU paying him to get to the breakdown first, get hands on the ball and then disappear under a pile of bodies to be used as a door mat?
8 would be a decent position for him with instructions to "roam" where possible, but it would take more than a year to teach him how to do that.
Play him at inside centre and he becomes a one trick pony (crash tackle or crash and off-load). Play him at 2nd Centre and you risk him being skinned on the outside.

It really is a strange decision......for all parties concerned.

I am sure that if he'd stayed in Sydney he could have built a legacy (or at least some form of post-RL media Career) He will be forgotten in seconds by the English public if he fails.....which I think he will.

Still, good luck to the guy. He's only got 10 years or so to earn enough to do him a lifetime...he needs to make it while he can!

I'd be tempted to try him as a blindside flanker... I'm not sure he is number 8 material personally.. you are right, it would take him a lot longer to learn the role of that position.

I definitely cant see him in the centres though.

If the RFU drove a truck full of money and guaranteed spot in the England RU team for the World Cup up to your house, you'd not turn it down.

Fair play to Sam for going for it. I don't see what position he's likely to play in a Union side, but he's going to come out of those 3 years probably set for life and he'd still be likely to walk into most SL sides if he chose to return to League

It's just sad that RU can't produce their own players and have to panic buy the best from our code when the England team have run of poor results.

I'll be the one to say it, I don't think he has the outright pace to play international outside centre. 12 these days is more a second fly half so I don't see that working.

Top class flankers are born offside you can't coach a Richie mccaw A Richard hill or serge betsen its natural flair that is polished up. I'm struggling to see how at international level he fits in other than an old school power inside centre smashing down defences. Better learn tactical kickin

Hope it works for him. Sadly I see him in 3 years a failed international but excellent premiership player and about 15kg overweight

no you won't!
Have you got me on "ignore" too ...

The more I think about this story the more strange it seems.

Sure he will be on more money playing RU and if he's any good at it the chance to become a worldwide household name.

But apparently the guy has never even played the game before and yet the RFU want to fast track him into the England side. This wont sit well with those fringe international players in the 15 man code who are rightly going to feel that this bloke could scupper their own international careers. He is going to be targetted big time and I'm not sure he has either the talent or the temperament to cope with it.

He was on a decent wage at Souffs and thanks to Rustys connections never had his face off channel 9 or out of the papers.


Apart from the well publicised fine he got from Madge and Greg Inglis's spray about him I'm sure there is far more to this story than meets the eye.

Agree with Gutters 100% - He'll be a decent Union player but no more than that.

Gutted he's moved, loved watching him play for Souths and England but you do what's best for youself at the end of the day.

The big change for Sam is going to be the break down in Union and how quickly he adapts to the rules. That alone is why I don't think he'll be a forward, not in the first year or so anyway.

I think Sam's got all the attributes to succeed in the code. but needs to be given time to adapt.

England aren't lacking in , with the likes of Manu Tuilagi, Twelevetress, Barrit & Burrell but I wouldn't be surprised if Sam gets to the font of the cue. I'd love to see him up against the Welsh Roberts.

Spot on.

I think Sam is a great (by English standards) RL player for this generation (but that's a weak generation) but overall he's just another player and when he's gone he'll be forgotton about. There's better players than him who have left the game, got injured, retired.

Agreed.
His departure doesn't impact the current SL as he wasn't competing in it (or likely to for a long time, maybe never). As I've said before, during and after the WC, the International game is made up of too few top teams (just 3 really) to be the main focus going forward.

What development and what England RL team?
Seriously?
3 games this year at 6.30am or worse for the TV public and not a sausage for the fans in the UK to watch "in the flesh".

By the time the RLWC 2017 comes along, Burgess might have played a dozen England RL Internationals at most.....if he's fast tracked into the national Union squad he'll see 4 times that action with 50% of those in front of 80K packed stadiums and in front of 8 million BBC viewers.

BTW, if you believe the RFU would select 1 player in a move designed to sabotage an entire national squad.....and a forward at that, you really do need to get down to the Hive this year.....you and the Broncos are both as mad as a bag of spanners