The very public rugby union education of Sam Burgess took a lively step forward on Friday night, the 25-year-old starting his first game for Bath but being upstaged by Matt Banahan, a back with his England career probably someway behind him, but the scorer of a hat-trick on Friday night.
After 17 minutes against Harlequins and 27 minutes at Montpellier last weekend, Burgess got the full 80 here. Whether it said anything about his chances of some game time during the Six Nations, starting in February, or Bath’s chances of progressing in the Champions Cup is another matter.
Despite picking up a bonus point with Horacio Agulla’s diving try two minutes from time, Bath probably have to win in Toulouse and beat Glasgow in the final pool round to have a chance.
However, things could not have started better, with Burgess, accidentally perhaps, helping to put Bath into the lead with less than three minutes played. First the England fly-half George Ford looked to have used his giant centre as a decoy, passing wide to Leroy Houston, whose inside pass then ricocheted off Burgess’s left knee and into the arms of that other giant, Banahan.
It took half-a-dozen video reviews before the Italian referee, Marius Mitrea, was satisfied that Burgess had not been in an offside position for his “assist” but he had less trouble the next time Burgess got involved, awarding a penalty when the big man was brought down to put Bath 10 points clear after only seven minutes and yet more to come.
In truth the Burgess influence in the second Bath try was minimal, but he did make the tackle which drove his opposite number Wynand Olivier into touch. From then on it was straight training ground; Ford to Semesa Rokoduguni, with the hint of a dummy run from Burgess, and Banahan outpacing the cover to remind everyone that he was once capped 16 times by England. The conversion made it 17 points in 13 hectic minutes, which suggested that while Burgess is currently not the most natural rugby union player, he is nevertheless lucky. And honest, admitting: “There are a lot of things I can get better.”
According to Mike Ford, Burgess would had moved to the back row had things gone better in the first half. Next week in the local derby against Gloucester he is likely to start on the bench and after that the next 80-minute performance will be in Monday night A-team games.
“You won’t see the best of Sam for another two months,” said Mike Ford, making suggestions that an appearance for the Saxons against the Wolfhounds – Ireland’s second string – in late January seem a bit ambitious.
“He’s still learning the game,” said Ford. “What he’s done so far has been fantastic. We’re ready for the criticism about what he can’t do, but we’ve got our heads screwed on, we’ll weather all that criticism. We know what we’re doing and where we’re going.
“He’s got to learn the game and I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. The plan was to give him 20 minutes in the back row, but the game was too tight and I kept him where he was.”
However, if last night proved anything it is that changing codes is horrendously difficult and the more difficult the closer to the scrum a former league man gets. As Burgess himself admitted in an interview screened by BT Sport before kick-off: “Without wishing to sound disrespectful to anyone, the game’s a lot harder than I thought.
“It’s harder than it looks,” he said, confessing to particular problems with the tackle where rugby union expects arms to be used for something other than helping victims to their feet .
Whether Burgess stays in the backs probably depends on how quickly he gets to grips dealing with the complications of the breakdown, not to mention ruck, maul, line-out or scrum. Last night, once he had shaken off the cameramen who dogged his every move during the warm-up, the most difficult task appeared to be positioning himself as the game revolved around him.
More obvious red rose candidates appeared to be those already in Stuart Lancaster’s squad, Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph.
Bath Watson; Rokoduguni (Agulla, 66), Joseph, Burgess, Banahan; Ford, Cook (Young, 58); James (capt, Auterac, 50), Batty (Webber, 50), Wilson (Thomas, 50), Day (Hooper, 10), Attwood, Fa’osiliva, Louw, Houston.
Tries Banahan 3, Agulla. Cons Ford 3. Pens Ford 2.
Montpellier Berard; Artru, Ebersohn (Ranger, 32), Olivier, Nasagavesi; Selponi, Pelissie; Leleimalefaga (Watremez h-t), Geli (Ivaldi, 62), Cilliers, Tchale-Watchou, Privat (Donnelly, 48), Ouedraogo (capt), Qera, Tulou.
Tries Tulou, Ivaldi. Con Paillaugue.
Sin-bin Pelisse 52
Referee M Mitrea (It). Attendance 13,282.
