Bath’s head coach, Mike Ford, believes Sam Burgess will be picked in England’s Rugby World Cup squad despite his relatively recent conversion from rugby league.
Ford predicts that Burgess will successfully complete the transition from Australia’s NRL to England’s World Cup squad, having only lined up for his union debut in November 2014.
Burgess, who has played at centre and flanker for Bath this season, and the rest of a 45-man England training squad have now decamped to Denver, Colorado, for further training, with the countdown continuing towards Stuart Lancaster’s final World Cup squad announcement late next month.
England will play home and away warm-up games against France before Lancaster confirms his 31-man squad for the tournament, and Ford expects the uncapped 26-year-old Burgess, whose chances of selection were enhanced after Maro Itoje and Elliot Daly were omitted from the travelling party to Denver, to make the cut.
“Sam might be one of those decisions [where] Stuart has not quite made his mind up,” said Ford. “But the rugby side of things will start now with England away in Denver, and the preparation in terms of the style they want to play.
“Hopefully, Sam will get a crack in the warm-up games. He was outstanding in the Premiership final [in May]. I expect him to get in, if he gets a shot in the warm-up games, which I expect him to do.
“They [England] are running him at centre, but there is the ability that if Sam was on the bench, for example, he could also play back-row if they need it.”
Burgess, who delivered a man-of-the-match display despite playing for 79 minutes with a fractured cheekbone during South Sydney Rabbitohs’ NRL Grand Final triumph last October, helped Bath reach the Premiership final and European Champions Cup quarter-finals last season. And Ford has been impressed with his adaptation to the 15-a-side code.
“It is pretty special what he has done. There was all the hype that came with it, all the scrutiny,” added Ford. “He has played in the centre, then the back-row, and I think moving forward he is going to be a world-class player in the back-row for Bath, and I certainly see him in the future playing number six for England. He is a team player – everything he does is for the good of the team. He’s inspirational, and I am glad he is on our team.”
