The same could be said for Tom as well. Both Luke and Tom will undoubtedly be on bigger money than they would have got anywhere else. If Sam leaves then he'll have left Souths with one very good brother and two average ones earning too much (although Tom could improve a lot). Sam leaving Souths would also diminish "brand Burgess" significantly - and therefore the future earnings of the lesser brothers outside of the game.



Regardless of how much "compensation" Souths get, players as good as Burgess are very rare. For England RL Sam Burgess is literally irreplaceable. Sam has played along with the whole "living the dream" alongside his brothers, and for him to walk away from that would show it was always a crock.

Fair play to Burgess if he goes, more money & more recognition but to me it does scream desperation from RFU in doing this for their big 2015 showpiece



Could blow up in Englands face here

I'm an Melbourne based Rhinos Fan (originally from Leeds) and this is all over the sports news at the moment, with all the usual hype.



South's have recently released a statement advising that they have had no approach for a release from Burgess' contract from either his management, RFU or any Union Clubs but we all know that could be a "at the timing of writing" thing....



Hopefully this is all just a bit of posturing to get Sammy an upgraded deal, which to be honest I think the kid probably deserves. He's up there in the top forwards in the competition.



As for the brothers George is quite obviously safe, and hopefully will build on last season. I think they see Tom as a prospect that can provide adequate cover when necessary and Luke is just there to complete the set. I think if any of them make the move back I'd guess Tom as Luke has a young family over in Aus but that's just my ponderings..



To be honest though, all the exposure these kids get over here is generally positive (a couple of car window smashing, nude selfie sending, ball twisting exemptions) and the view they put across is that they really enjoy the Aussie life. I certainly couldn't see myself changing it for Bath but then again......a couple of million quid may change my mind on that.



Lets hope Sam stays....

Gary Hetherington gave the firm opinion last night on Radio Leeds that this story was pure speculation and probably impossible to achieve given the amounts of money that it would require to make it happen <shrugs shoulders>

I know a pretty nice kebab shop in Bath. That might be a clincher for him?

Sam's a great rugby league talent. England's finest probably. But there's no guarantee at all that would transfer into union. History could show you that with dozens of casualties either way. More recently look how Andy Powell has been around the Wigan side nearly a year and he looks nowhere near at the level to compete in Super League let alone at international level. Sam has the skill, speed, size and hands to a be a force in either code but rugby league probably suits him better. He wouldn't be offered (in union) the same space and time which makes him so destructive in league. But maybe a 2 million pound deal may make it an experiment worth trying.

Aren't Union producing their own backs? If they had their way their backs would look something like:



15 S Tomkins

14 Ashton

13 J Tomkins

12 Burgess

11 Eastmond

10 Faz





Saying that I understanding why they're doing this, I believe



15 Tomkins

14 Charnley

13 Watkins

12 Lockers

11 Hall

10 Sinfield

9 Roby



would be a considerably better backs than they currently have!

I don't think it will happen purely because I don't think there is a position where he would exel at.



If you played him at centre, you'd get a few runs where he shrugs tacklers off like flies, and he'd smash a few people, but he may be exposed a bit out wide with lots of space and quick backs. You'd also only get the good bits when the ball gets out to the backs, so about twice a game.



If you wnated to make better use of his time you would have him somewhere in the back row. You'd be unlikely to get as many big hits out of him due to the nature of the close range contact, but you'd benefit from his endurance and ball carrying. The biggest question mark is how quickly can he pick up the position specific skills of a RU forward, also from a S&C point of view and RU forward and an RL forward are comepltely different, so there would have to be a change in his routines there too

Yeah, i'm sure that factors into burgess thinking.



Money - check

Chance to win with country (realistic chance) - check

chance to become a national icon (ru much higher profile) - check

get's to come home (as nice as aus is, it's not home) - check



But oh no, the RU are desperate to have me, but i think i'll turn it down because i don't think i'll play very well (no professional sportsmen at high level as that mentality).



If it's the RFU's thinking you mean, they obviously think he can excel hence they will pay big $$$$.



RL once again being shown up as the small fry it is.

I think he was meaning the RU would see sense, rather than the player would change his mind because of it.



I agree with what he said also, and don't believe in truth that any such official offer has been made.

If Joel Tomkins, Brad Barritt, and Billy Twelvetrees can play in the centres for the England RU team then Sam Burgess can without a doubt, he's in a different stratosphere in terms of ability to those 3.

He can play there. Would he be a perfect fit there? Probably not IMO.



As has already been said, he'll do some good things with ball in hand creating physical mismatches against smaller outside backs. He'll hit some people hard in the contact.



He's got zero kicking game though. He's going to be one of the slower centres in the top flight. He'll need to be brought along slowly until he learns how to function in the tackle area and the nuances of retaining/winning possession after the tackle.



For the money he's going to cost someone, he's not going to provide value for money in the short term. English club rugby union is not swimming in surplus cash that it can afford to waste on "projects" when they can go out and sign a ready made player from elsewhere.



This whole thing is the RFU trying to play Billy Big-Balls in the media and generate some hype. They've clearly not learned from the expensive on-field failure that was Andy Farrell.