I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic.

Burgess has my full backing and the off season has given me a chance to drink the Powell out of my system.

Now the Wire and thank fudge Rugby League is back! Other sports just dont cut it for me.

Is Vaughan back for R1 or does my man crush have a longer wait to reignite?

The only thing big Sam fills me full of for the new season is Ale

Yes, he has served his silly ban, and will be playing for us this weekend.

Decent segment on BBC Breakfast this morning centred on Sam, growing up Australia and coaching here, but also plugging RL in general.

Yes. it's not on a par with the fawning that they and the media in general give to the other code, but that 'little Mike' bloke did his best....it's a start anyway let's hope that the sport delivers.

I think the BBC do a decent job when it comes to RL. Especially on Breakfast since their move to Salford.
It helps that players, coaches and owners are accessible. I recall Makinson and Wellens in the studio after the world club challenge and Beaumont in the studio prior to the challenge cup.
I can't see Pep and Haaland popping in after winning the world club cup.

Good to see that Sam has such a high profile. It really ought to increase the interest in the Wire from a few.

Unfortunately, outside of RL his reputation is as the scapegoat of England’s failure in the 2015 RU World Cup. Unfairly blamed of course, he didn’t select himself. Once he returned to RL he was open about what he thought went wrong at the World Cup and called out some players for their attitudes and commitment, and this didn’t go down well with RU fans who thought it was the usual sour grapes.

It’s this attitude to commitment and the ‘no excuses’ ethos that give me a bit of hope as a Wire fan. I don’t see us winning SL under Sam but I’d like to think he’s got a chance of turning the culture into one similar to Wigan.

Wasn't our Sam ranked in the top 5 worst ever England RU internationals? Big shout and unfair IMO and yes eW a "scapegoat".

He was fast tracked and if memory serves wasn't he put out wide at Centre or was that where he thought he was going to play? All a bit technical. Mind you they got their own back with Burrell but again to be fair to him we took a punt on a loophole it didn't come off.....hardies

I think they tried him mainly at inside centre & back row. Inside Centre is often the position that RL converts end up playing. There have been plenty of pretty poor players who played Union for England & I suppose it depends on who was doing the rankings. They were in such a rush to get Sam's hard running into the team & it was asking one hell of lot of anyone.

Think he was ranked as number 1!!
They seem to forget they were beating Wales when burgess was taken off and they went on to lose the game. Yep, the WC shambles was all Sam's fault. Just another reason why I'll NEVER cheer for England to win a match in that code.

To be clear my 'Like' for Moe's post was based on the Wales match fact rather than never hoping England win ha ha

Absolutely. In an attempt to close the game out, they took of a solid defender and brought on a second fly half. Obviously we don’t know the truth, but Burgess’ comments after leaving Bath stand to reason.

Union fans have a completely warped perspective on Sam Burgess. Its like how league fans of a certain generation used to laugh about John Gallagher being a flop at Leeds. But to union fans, Gallagher was an all time great player and a feature of a legendary All Blacks team in the late 80s.

Don't want to drift off-topic on this thread, but here is a short clip of something I never thought I would see in my life-time. Rugby League getting positive air-time on a BBC RU show...

rlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/rugby-union/68270718rl

Good article on Sam Burgess up to now. Definitely a work in progress, but lots of green shoots:- https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/be ... ton-wolves

Good article on Sam Burgess up to now. Definitely a work in progress, but lots of green shoots:- https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/be ... ton-wolves