Sam Burgess lacked the stomach to stay in rugby union, insists Bath head coach Mike Ford
Code-switcher Sam Burgess did not have the stomach to fight for a rugby union future following a turbulent World Cup campaign, according to jilted Bath head coach Mike Ford.
Burgess last week quit the 15-man code and returned to former rugby league club South Sydney Rabbitohs despite being just 12 months into his rugby union adventure and having two years left on his contract with Bath. The 26-year-old was a controversial selection for England’s dismal World Cup showing, being deployed at centre as opposed to blindside flanker where he had featured for Bath, while his performances at the tournament were widely criticised.
“All I know is that he didn’t have the stomach to see out his contract,” said Ford. “For me, this was the time to roll his sleeves up and become the player that I thought he could be – and he chose not to.
“You don’t know what he was thinking, it wasn’t until the final talk I had with him that I felt there was nothing more I could do.
“But I did speak to him about that and what a fantastic player he could be, and about the investment the club and the players had made in him, and that it was time to repay that. But he chose differently.”
Full-back Mike Brown, meanwhile, has insisted that anonymous leaks from England’s dressing room during their ill-fated World Cup group-stage exit means trust in his team-mates has all but dissipated.
“The trust has gone,” said Brown. “I don’t think anyone was good enough in an England shirt to be piping up saying ‘this is wrong, that was wrong’ and that sort of thing. If they are going to say something, I think they should put their name to it.”