The Bath owner, Bruce Craig, says he expects Sam Burgess to remain in union for two more years and insists the player could yet make a big impact for England as a back-rower at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Burgess continues to be strongly linked with a return to South Sydney Rabbitohs but Bath are in no mood to facilitate a swift, cut-price move back to Australia.
With Bath’s back-row resources already stretched by injury to Guy Mercer and the refusal of the Welsh Rugby Union to sanction the potential transfer of Taulupe Faletau, Craig has made clear that, as far as he is concerned, Burgess is staying put for the time being.
He will be on the bench against London Irish this weekend, having returned to training with Bath this week after a short holiday in Spain.
“Sam is with us for the next two years and is in contract unless anything changes,” said Craig, who said he had not spoken to anyone from the National Rugby League in Australia or Leeds Rhinos, the Super League champions.
“We all know he’s a huge star in rugby league and union and the reality is that he’s under contract with us. We’re not in negotiations with anyone. If there’s interest in any player, they will come to the owner or the chairman and find out whether it’s a possibility. No one has come in for him.
“Whether he’s having second thoughts or not, that’s Sam’s decision. At the moment he’s with us and is in our Champions Cup squad.”
Craig, who personally funded Burgess’s move to union last year, also suggested England’s attempt to use the former league man as a centre rather than a flanker during the World Cup had not helped either party.
“We brought Sam over with a specific brief from our point of view, which was he’ll play in the back row. That’s where his best qualities are and where Sam sees himself. If he wasn’t picked in the England squad, obviously his development would have increased but I’m absolutely sure he can be a star of the next World Cup if he sticks around. I think he can be a great No6.”
The Bath head coach, Mike Ford, also senses England’s World Cup underachievement was a major factor in unsettling Burgess. “It is not Sam’s fault he got selected, it is not his fault he got picked against Wales. If he had stayed with us he would have had a good pre-season but if England had beaten Wales and made the semi-final that would have helped as well.”
Speaking at the launch of the European Champions’ Cup, which included the announcement of a new sponsorship deal with Turkish Airlines, Ford and his fellow Premiership coaches also argued that the gap between northern and southern hemisphere rugby was not as wide as the World Cup suggested.
“There is not as big a crisis as everyone says,” said Ford, a point of view shared by Exeter’s Rob Baxter and Saracens’ Mark McCall.
Northampton’s Jim Mallinder feels likewise, suggesting England were simply not sharp enough in a tactical or selectorial way. “I think we have the players, without a doubt, from our props through to our back three,” said Mallinder.
“We have strength in depth, it is just a question of getting the right blend together and doing what some of the other nations have done: getting their tactics, strategy and recruitment right, picking the right players for the right occasion, knowing what the gameplan is. We have the potential to do that … we’ve seen that in some of the games England have played earlier this year.”
