The England head coach, Steve McNamara, has hinted there are continuing developments regarding Sam Burgess’s potential return to rugby league and has again welcomed the prospect of his coming back to the sport.
Burgess’s future was discussed on Tuesday by the Bath head coach, Mike Ford, who said he expects the 26-year-old to see out the final two years of his three-year contract with the Premiership side. But McNamara said he believes there are “things happening” as talk over a return to rugby league continues.
“I’m hearing there is some news but I’ve got nothing confirmed,” McNamara said. “But I do think there are things happening. I hope so anyway; if he comes back to rugby league it would be good.
“He’ll make his own mind up and then go with it. I’d be glad if he’s back in rugby league. The sport needs characters like him, so if he does come back it’s great for the game full stop.”
Ford insisted that Burgess was going nowhere after returning to the club following a 10-day break, despite interest from his former club South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Super League champions, Leeds Rhinos, over a switch back to league.
“Yes, we expect Sam to stay,” said Ford. “He has got two years left on his contract. We’ve had a good talk about everything, as we have had with all the World Cup players, asking what they want to do. Sam wanted to come in and the plan was for him to be picked on the bench for the first two Premiership games of the season and then start the next two.
“He came to training and played the first game, but then he came to training on the Tuesday after and that’s when it hit him. After the World Cup, it hits people in different ways. Everyone is different and with Sam it was a case of go away, take 10 days off.
“In that time there’s been a lot of speculation. Sam’s frame of mind since he’s come back has been brilliant. He’s come in and cracked on and has trained very well for these couple of days.”
Kevin Sinfield, meanwhile, has leapt to the defence of Burgess and criticised former union players for having “a cheap shot” at his old team-mate following the World Cup.
Burgess made replacement appearances against Fiji and Australia and one start in the loss to Wales, which led to a brutal assessment from ex-Ireland centre Gordon D’Arcy, who claimed Burgess’s “naivety embarrassed those around him”.
Sinfield, who captained Burgess at international level in league, believes union would regret chasing him away. “It’d be a huge waste to let him go,” said Sinfield, who has just begun his union career with Yorkshire Carnegie.
“Possibly they don’t realise what they’ve got on their hands at the minute. I’m sure Stuart Lancaster, Andy Farrell and everyone involved with England do. I’m sure Mike Ford at Bath knows what he’s got on his hands as well.
“It’s really, really easy to criticise, especially in this age now where everyone’s on social media and has an opinion. The big disappointment for a lot of people who know Sam is the number of ex-players – who don’t know him and understand enough about Sam – that have come out and had a bit of a cheap shot towards him.”
“I know he’s been linked with the Rhinos and as a Rhinos supporter now it’d be a fantastic signing,” added Sinfield, the most successful captain in Leeds’s history. “It’d be huge to have him back in Yorkshire. I think if he was to join any Super League club, it’d only be the Rhinos. But having said that, there’s interest from the NRL, particularly South Sydney which I’m sure is a place very close to his heart.”
