Bath Rugby aim to keep Sam Burgess on longer deal

England head coach Stuart Lancaster is convinced Sam Burgess will remain a rugby union player, despite growing speculation he will return to league after the Rugby World Cup.

Wales boss Warren Gatland has pointed to “assassination by the media” during a week of damaging fall-out from England’s failed World Cup campaign.

Gatland’s name has cropped up during radio phone-ins analysing what happens next with England, while Sir Clive Woodward revealed he would have tried to land the Kiwi had he become RFU director of rugby.

Ford and Watson are set to start Saturday’s Pool A dead rubber against Uruguay at the City of Manchester Stadium, with Joseph and Webber named as replacements whilst Burgess and Wilson have been left out of Lancaster’s 23-man squad altogether.

“I don’t think there are many people who could say he’s been used as effectively as he could have been”, said Baxter at the Aviva Premiership launch.

Ford said: “The last conversation I had with him, he was going to extend his contract with us and he wanted to go to the next World Cup”. “We all understand the pressures of the professional sport and what you have to deal with”. “For me it’s a case of getting on with the day job”, Lancaster said.

“It does certain things to you, and I don’t know if he wants it”.

They take on Uruguay tomorrow knowing they are already out of the competition.

“After two defeats on the bounce it’s taken a few work to get everybody back in the right place”, said Lancaster, who has had the unpleasant experience of hearing his competence called into question in a series of ever more excruciating press conferences this week.

“Pocock turned the ball over five times, we did so three times”.

“They have been in contact with us wanting to speak to us, but I don’t know what the process will be”, said England’s assistant coach Andy Farrell, who refused to comment further. I’m really pleased for them and hope that they can now forge ahead in their new league. Ledesma has changed the way Australia approaches the scrum, using a method similar to what the Argentine national team does, with all eight men directing their power through the hooker while pushing hard and straight. We have an unbelievable run of fixtures coming up; we have Toulon, Leinster, Leicester, Northampton and Wasps twice.

And such was the quality of Australia’s performance that their odds will undoubtedly shorten with regards to them being crowned world champions. “Of course I’ll have input in it, absolutely”.