Sam Burgess’s rugby union career is over after he secured his exit from Bath and completed a deal to return to the NRL with his former club South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The Australian side confirmed on Thursday night that Bath had agreed a deal to release Burgess from the final two years of his three-year contract, allowing him to go back to rugby league a day after the Premiership side insisted Burgess would not leave.
“I want to thank everyone at England Rugby and Bath for some great memories over the last 12 months,” said Burgess. “I must also thank Bath especially for granting my release to return home to my family who I have missed more than I could have imagined.
“I am also extremely excited to be joining back up with South Sydney. I cannot wait to get back into the Rabbitohs culture, full of great people and passionate members and supporters.
“I had a wonderful time in England and learned a lot about the game of rugby union as both a back and a forward, and I have definitely developed as an all-round player and athlete after that.
“I’m now very lucky to be given the chance to come back to Souths and serve this club and its members.
“I look forward to getting stuck into training with all the boys and working hard for the upcoming season.”
The news will increase the pressure on Stuart Lancaster, who was instrumental in bringing Burgess into the sport 12 months ago. The England head coach’s position was already under threat amid the Rugby Football Union’s ongoing review into the World Cup failure and he will have more questions to answer now about how the Burgess experiment has unravelled.
Burgess’s move was welcomed by Lancaster’s equivalent in the 13-man code, however. “It is great for rugby league,” said Steve McNamara, the England coach. “I am tremendously proud of the fact that he had never played a game of rugby union, went across there and played for his country.
“It was an outstanding effort for a young man to do that. We all know what an outstanding rugby league player he is and it is going to be great for us to have him available again in the future.”
Bath are understood to have made a profit on the reported £500,000 they paid for Burgess 12 months ago, but any transfer fee is unlikely to be a problem for South Sydney Rabittohs, who are co-owned by the actor Russell Crowe. The only fear from Souths’ point of view was whether they could fit Burgess under their salary cap, but that issue has now been resolved.
The deal was agreed after the former Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson, who is now the NRL’s head of strategy after leaving the club last year, flew in to sort out the paperwork. Reports in Australia suggest Burgess could earn almost £700,000 a year at Souths, making him the NRL’s highest-paid player.
The Rabbitohs head coach, Michael Maguire, welcomed the return of their former player. “I could not be happier to see Sam coming home to the Rabbitohs,” said Maguire. “He had an enormously positive impact on our club, both on and off the field, throughout the five seasons he was here, and to be bringing back one of the game’s most dominant players is fantastic for not only our club, but the game itself.
“ He will add starch to our forward pack, and he will bring his leadership qualities to the team as well.
“He wanted to test himself in rugby union and he achieved many of his goals, becoming a dual international for England and representing his country at a Rugby World Cup.
“The next chapter is for him to return to the game he was born to play, and we’re over the moon that he is coming home to do that with his Rabbitohs family here at South Sydney.”
The 26-year-old told Bath shortly after the Rugby World Cup he had grown disillusioned with the sport and wanted to move back to league and South Sydney. Bath were determined to hold on to him, with the club’s owner Bruce Craig, the man who funded the deal to bring Burgess to union, insisting he was going nowhere on Wednesday.
“Sam is with us for the next two years and is in contract unless anything changes,” said Craig. “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.”
However, Burgess will now not be part of Bath’s squad for the game against London Irish at the weekend. Nor will he figure in the ongoing rugby league Test series against New Zealand. He will instead start to prepare for his switch before the 2016 season.
Leeds had also expressed an interest in bringing Burgess back to rugby league, with the Rhinos chief executive, Gary Hetherington, telling the Guardian if Souths could not strike a deal, they had the capability to make one with Bath.
But with Burgess’s twin brothers George and Thomas having secured their long-term futures with Souths, both signing deals until the end of 2018, the player was keen on a return to the Rabbitohs. The rest of Burgess’ immediate family – including his older brother Luke and mother Julie – will be in Sydney for the foreseeable future.
Burgess is also getting married in Australia later this year and is motivated by the challenge of pushing Souths back to the top of the Australian game after they finished seventh in the NRL last season.
