Lancaster warns Burgess he faces World Cup fight
ENGLAND coach Stuart Lancaster has warned rugby league star Sam Burgess that he faces an uphill battle to break into his squad for next year’s World Cup.
Burgess, 25, has targeted a spot in Lancaster’s team at the tournament on home soil after agreeing a £500,000 deal to switch codes later this year and join Premiership outfit Bath.
It means Burgess, who plays alongside his three brothers in Australia for South Sydney Rabbitohs, will have less than a full season to acclimatise to union before the World Cup, which starts in September 2015.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” said Lancaster. “He’ll have to start learning the game during the course of that 2015 season, so Six Nations would be a real push, I’d suggest. If he’s done enough to make a World Cup training squad then clearly we’d want to have a look at him but, first and foremost, I think he needs to go to Bath and play the game.”
Burgess – called “the ultimate physical specimen” by England rugby league coach Steve McNamara – could now become the subject of a club-versus-country row over what position he plays. England chiefs, who are in talks with Bath to part-fund the transfer fee, are thought to see Burgess as a centre, with the club considering training him as a back-row.
“It’s probably not my decision,” Lancaster added. “The easiest way to start is without the complexity of the line-out and everything that goes with it. But whatever position he plays, he will a great asset.”
Burgess joined the Rabbitohs in 2009 after being spotted by Hollywood actor Russell Crowe, who co-owns the club, and has since become a major star in Australia.
The Yorkshireman said: “With 2015 being a Rugby World Cup, it was an opportunity I had to pursue, and I thank the Rabbitohs for allowing me to make this move and start the next chapter in my sporting career.”
FACTFILE
Sam Burgess
Height: 6ft 4ins Weight: 18 stone
Birthplace: Dewsbury DOB: 14/12/88
Clubs: Bradford Bulls (2006-2009); South Sydney Rabbitohs (2009-2014)
International: England (13 caps/7 tries); Great Britain (2/1)