Can't say I'm surprised that Burges is returning to RL. Before he had even touched the ball on the darkside the knives were out for him. He has played every game in RU under the microscope, every small error, not that there were many, was portrayed as a catastrophe and example of why he shouldn't play for England. Like it or not RU has the old school tie principle operating in the upper echelons and I believe they can't wait to get shut of half the coaching staff and a couple of players because they are perceived to be northern oiks.

it was a stupid purchase on their behalf, made no sense whatsoever.

I think the home nations would improve their chances if the RFU would actually allow players to shrug off the mantle of having to work within approved set plays. Their guidelines don't seem to cater for individual flair or enterprise & thinking out of the box is a cardinal sin.

Southern hemisphere teams are much more successful because their players are allowed to be individuals to a certain extent, & the emerging nations just seem to play what is in front of them & do produce watchable rugby at times.

Unfortunately though, i think Sam was always a likely scapegoat.

Niners...Your first paragraph could also describe the modern RL game.

Indeed. Been indulging in some of brens fine videos from the 80s/90s lately and so much wonderful off the cuff rugby you rarely see anymore. Plenty of biff, characters and running duels....marvellous. God mark Roberts was class.

Yes Brian, i think maybe spreading the ball from the first tackle could even confuse defences & lead to a more open game. The game does seem a bit predictable at times these days.

Was funny listening to the radio this morning when the Burgess story was raised, the interviewees all falling over themselves to say how he wasn't made a scapegoat for the WC failure. They played the bloke in the wrong position FFS..(and no, I don't know what position would suit him best in RU, that game is still a mystery to me)


Oh and Stephen Jones, the most hated man in NZ after he wrote a piece condemning the Haka!

I'm pretty sure he said the very same thing in 1995.

The conspiracy theorist in me always saw this as union putting us in our place from the off.

A grand plan to show us up.

1st Remove the English poster boy from the game.
2nd Fast track him in the sport knowing he isn't ready.
3rd Blame him for the most prominent loss
4th Show the world that league is poor because their poster boy can't play the game.

Wow! How do you sleep at night?

Yeah. Not sure how the million pound investment they have made in Burgess and the embarassing exit from the World Cup tie in with that however.

I think Sam was just trying to be like SBW. World Cup is done now so flit back to League to play NRL until the next World Cup. The team's poor performance has probably ruined that business model for him.

Well, when I wear my tinfoil hat, those aliens won't look into my thoughts