Its happening then he is to join Bath in october, 500k transfer fee paid to souths for him, another massive loss for league to union. imo

One can only assume his three year contract was financially unturnadownable.
A sad loss for our game.

true, money talks in all walks of life, its not like he hasn't proved himself in RL.

It's a short career. Good luck to him

No doubt.
Just personally enjoyed watching him doing the business for Souths in the NRL the last few seasons.

It's a loss to the game but unless RL can up the ante and match RU and the NRL financially then it will continue to happen. Personally I can't believe sam tomkins went to NZ rather than English RU. With all of the commercial opportunities he'd have been sent up for life

Give it a few years.

Yup.
We forget they are still relatively young kids.
Seems like Sam B has been around for donkeys but surprisingly Tomkins is his elder.

nb.
Actually just googled that and I'm incorrect (I appreciate it doesn't happy very often ) but there is little between them.

@tombiggs11: Great news that @SamBurgess8 is heading to Bath.I paid the transfer fee as a leaving gift.Interesting that they want him to play tight head.

I know Tomkins is a controversial character but maybe he really does enjoy RL and prefers what after all is still a decent living to taking the money and swimming in the turd that is RU.

Huge loss to Rugby League. Our best player at the world cup.

He gets to roll around on the floor a few times a week, once in front of fans, all on silly money. Can't blame him.

If he succeeds and plays for England, he'll have the opportunity to play in front of 60-80,000 people at least 9 times a year. He also has a(nother) home World Cup and Lions Tour to aim for.

He'll have the chance to play the All Blacks, the Springboks and the Pumas in their own countries as well as the experience of Paris, Rome, Dublin, Cardiff and Edinburgh in the Six Nations.

I'm sure money was a part of the motivation but I can't help but think the RLWC las year whetted his appetite to play on those kinds of stages.

Good luck to him and I'm sure he'll be back playing League in the future.

Have to agree with this and fair play to him. The only thing that concerns me is that we are consistently losing our best talents to union. This all starts at the very top with the governing bodies of our sport who are paid to sort issues like this out.

The world cup was a success, however it was a limited success because, as you rightly point out, players want that thrill a few times every year not once every four years.

good luck to him, not sure he has the speed for centre but time will tell, must be honest i like rugby union when its played at the top level,