Sour grapes from Burgess?

[Chobbsy]

Is this sour grapes from Burgess or stark reality?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/46355184

If he was so committed why didn't he play like he was?

[Alandrin75]

I tend to agree with him tbh.

We were winning against Wales when he came off, and my feelings throughout the World Cup was that there were egos within that squad who had an issue with Slammin' Sam being selected.

Personally I can't wait for his autobiography to come out and feel sorry for the chap. Between Bath and the RFU his move to Union was screwed up massively and Bath contributed massively to upsetting people with his selection for teams.

[ourla]

Is this sour grapes from Burgess or stark reality?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/46355184

If he was so committed why didn't he play like he was?

It's been proven that Lancaster is a great coach but not a DoR - he was in the wrong job. And ultimately that is why things went tits up for England, and Burgess, nothing more, nothing less. If Burgess had come in under Eddie Jones for example it would have been handled much better.

[TTRITH]

Burgess went tits up because Bath saw him as a flanker, whilst England saw him as a centre.

[johnthegriff]

He had been found wanting as a centre at Bath and was only learning about the Union game as a flanker when he was drafted into the World Cup squad as a centre, he had not earned the right to be there. Is it surprising that those who had dreamed of winning the World Cup for their country resented the team being weakened whilst team mates for club and country saw their dreams shattered as they were omitted from the squad to make room for the interloper. Not a good move for team spirit and morale.

[voice of the crumbie]

He had been found wanting as a centre at Bath and was only learning about the Union game as a flanker when he was drafted into the World Cup squad as a centre, he had not earned the right to be there. Is it surprising that those who had dreamed of winning the World Cup for their country resented the team being weakened whilst team mates for club and country saw their dreams shattered as they were omitted from the squad to make room for the interloper. Not a good move for team spirit and morale.

Spot on John.

The cynic in me suspects he must have a book coming out soon ("I'll tell my side") as these sort of pieces tend to appear when a bit a of extra publicity doesn't do any harm. As for the egos of other players whether true or not he'd have to say something like that to generate interest.

[POSTIGER]

Burgess went tits up because Bath saw him as a flanker, whilst England saw him as a centre.

Bath were right and England were wrong. I've seen Sam play a lot of rugby league and given time I honestly think he'd have been a fantastic flanker, he had all of the right qualities.

Still not sure why he was fast-tracked as a centre when he didn't play in that position for his club. From what I remember he wasn't that bad but he wasn't that good either. He's right when he says he didn't cost us that game in the WC though. Bad decision-making cost us that game and Burgess was a convenient scapegoat.

England haven't learned though, there's players in the current squad who have walked into the squad without having really 'earned' their place.

[Alandrin75]

When Lancaster recruited Sam, he sold him a dream as an Centre offloading centre breaking the gain line like SBW.

Bath wanted the RFU to part fund the deal to bring him in, but the RFU fearing a revolt from other clubs after the other league converts getting funding to come over, refused. Bath then decided to play Sam and train Sam as a flanker as a massive two fingers up at the RFU over this issue.

I think the England dream was Sam smashing in the gain line and offloading to Manu to continue. 2 phases in and England were in broken field and able to release the pace they had in the back 3. Unfortunately Manu was injured and then charged so the plans went tits up

[Hot_Charlie]

Tend to agree with him. Whether he should have been in the squad is a separate matter.

Sadly England had the wrong man at the top (a great coach but not the man to lead England’s RWC squad) and the wrong man as captain (a man who had a habit not to make the correct captaincy decisions under pressure). This, allied to the performance on the pitch, led to the early exit.

[ellis9]

I hate when people tell half the story. You either tell the full story or keep your mouth shut until you are ready to tell the whole thing.

[Dangerous4]

I have to say that during the World Cup, Burgess offered very little, but then, he wasn't the only one. However, his remarks were pretty much "pot-kettle" Far better to have kept his mouth closed, methinks.

[CitizenSmiff]

He's welcome to his opinion obviously but at the end of the day the man's a footnote who barely played enough minutes to get into a colts team on merit. I'd be more interested in how Luther Burrell felt about the whole fiasco.

[fortysix]

All forgotten.
Who gives a :censored:?
Only thing England fans remember is winning the World Cup.
Only things Tigers fans remember are the 2 European Cup wins.
Winning the Premiership was taken for granted.
Oldie from North Norfolk....

[4071]

When Lancaster recruited Sam, he sold him a dream as an Centre offloading centre breaking the gain line like SBW.

Bath wanted the RFU to part fund the deal to bring him in, but the RFU fearing a revolt from other clubs after the other league converts getting funding to come over, refused. Bath then decided to play Sam and train Sam as a flanker as a massive two fingers up at the RFU over this issue.

I think the England dream was Sam smashing in the gain line and offloading to Manu to continue. 2 phases in and England were in broken field and able to release the pace they had in the back 3. Unfortunately Manu was injured and then charged so the plans went tits up

Bath did not decide to play him as a flanker as a two-finger gesture to the RFU. They clearly wanted him to develop as a centre and they gave him a number of games there. It was just clear to them and to anyone who watched him play that he was developing into a very good flanker whilst being a very average centre.

I thought his selection for the WC as a versatile flanker was - just about - justified. There's value in versatility in a WC squad, and having a flanker who can cover in the centres allows a different make-up to the bench and allows more specialists into the team.

His selection as a starting centre was baffling, frankly. He had not earned that.

[chris111]

Burgess went tits up because Bath saw him as a flanker, whilst England saw him as a centre.

Still not sure why he was fast-tracked as a centre when he didn't play in that position for his club.

English obsession with having a ‘bish-bash-bosh’ centre, perhaps? It’s a great option to have if it’s the right player (a Manu in his prime), but shoehorning a square peg into a round hole will always backfire.