On This Day: Sam Burgess is unveiled at Bath
(30th Oct 2014)
Oh, what could have been. On this day three years ago, Bath unveiled the next big hope of English rugby union, former league superstar Sam Burgess. First announced in February of that year, Burgess’ first day as an official Bath player was spent doing the media rounds hyping his long-awaited defection.
Even at the time, Burgess’ playing position was unclear, as was the timescale for his debut, having fractured half his face in the first minute of the NRL final. Still, an air of genuine excitement surrounded the move, and big things were, if not expected, certainly hoped for.
Fellow league converts like Jason Robinson talked up the former Rabbitoh’s potential for stardom, while All Black great John Kirwan called for calm, acknowledging that the move was a huge risk with no guarantee of success. Smart fella.
Burgess’ debut came less than a month after arriving in the country, taking to the field for the final quarter of Bath’s win over Harlequins. On this occasion, he replaced Horacio Agulla at inside centre, though would soon be shifted to blindside flanker by the club.
Initial performances were good. Not amazing, perhaps, but certainly good for someone new to the game. Burgess was a bona fide legend in rugby league, and had clear potential to develop into a solid union player given time.
He wasn’t given time. Instead, Burgess was fast-tracked into the England squad less than twelve months after making his union bow. 2015 was a World Cup year, and Stuart Lancaster clearly saw Burgess as having the X-Factor, the secret weapon that could push a promising England squad on to glory.
Never mind that he was selected at centre despite playing most of his recent rugby in the back row, or the fact that he was chosen ahead of the in-form Luther Burrell. Burgess was going to single-handedly win the World Cup, then save Gotham and rescue the princess.
After England’s disastrous World Cup campaign, Burgess was made something of a scapegoat for their failings. Many turned to Burgess as, if not the cause, then at least the symbol for Lancaster’s failed regime.
He fell out of favour and, despite featuring in Bath’s Premiership final defeat to Saracens in 2015, much of the stardust had long since rubbed off. Near enough exactly one year after his much-heralded unveiling, Burgess was off, returning to rugby league with South Sydney Rabbitohs
The fallout was acrimonious to say the least. Burgess was accused of failing to “put in the hard graft” as his attitude, work ethic and abilities were called into question. Burgess for his part spoke of systematic bias on the part of the media, ex-players and coaches who set him up to fail.
Even now, years later, Burgess’ short-lived union career is still a hot topic in rugby circles and generates controversy whenever it rears its head:
MORE: Rob Andrew blames World Cup disaster entirely on Lancaster
Given the fanfare with which his arrival at The Rec was greeted, it’s interesting to read those articles with the benefit of hindsight, and think how differently it could have all turned out.
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments