Sam Burgess’s return to rugby league has moved a step closer after a senior figure from Australia’s NRL arrived to help tie up a return to South Sydney Rabbitohs for the 2016 season.
Burgess is due back at Bath on Monday after being granted time off to make a decision on where his future lies but he is understood to have already indicated to the Premiership side he wants to end his spell in union after just over a year.
Bath are not budging on the hefty transfer fee – they are believed to be interested in even making a profit on the reported £500,000 they paid for the 26-year-old last year – and the former South Sydney chief executive Shane Richardson, who is the NRL’s head of strategy after leaving Souths himself last year, has flown in to help secure the deal.
Richardson was already set to attend England’s Test series against New Zealand this month but he will also now help to broker the deal which will secure Burgess’s return to rugby league and to South Sydney. He was a guest of the Rugby Football League for the game on Sunday at Hull’s KC Stadium, just as Burgess was last weekend for England’s Test match against France. But with confusion over whether the transfer fee would count on South Sydney’s salary cap – the NRL confirmed last week that would not be the case – the only stumbling block remaining is agreement on a fee.
Burgess spent the end of last week in Spain. He was named in Bath’s 41-man squad for the Champions Cup campaign, which begins a week on Saturday against Toulon, but a return to league could be secured even before this weekend’s Premiership encounter with London Irish. One potential twist in the transfer could come from the Super League champions, Leeds, who retain an interest in signing Burgess and bringing him back to English rugby league.
Souths remain the hot favourites to sign him when his release from Bath is eventually confirmed but the Rhinos are constantly monitoring the situation in case any changes occur.
Reports in Australia suggest he could earn almost £700,000 a year if he signs for Souths again, making him the NRL’s highest paid player, but Leeds have the advantage of the newly introduced marquee player ruling in Super League for next year to aid their pursuit of the dual-code international.
Burgess would account for only £175,000 on Leeds’ salary cap because of the ruling, irrespective of the salary the Rhinos would pay him. But even with South Sydney favourites to sign Burgess, the Rugby Football League remains heavily involved in the talks to secure his release from Bath.
The game’s governing body believes that, even if he returned to play his rugby in Australia with his former club Souths, Burgess would exponentially boost the profile of the sport here at international level, with England hosting a Four Nations next year and then travelling to Australia and New Zealand for the World Cup in 2017.
