Sam Burgess: I’m here for good

In a column for the Daily Mail, the 26-year-old admitted he was frustrated by the atmosphere in the global squad, and Sale Sharks fly-half Cipriani has supported his decision to return to Australia.

Bath have moved quickly to plug the gap left by Sam Burgess’s return to rugby league after announcing the signing of Scotland back-row forward David Denton from Edinburgh on Tuesday.

The player has returned to Rugby League with South Sydney Rabbitohs, having switched to union previous year and then enduring a disappointing Rugby World Cup as England crashed out of the pool stage on home soil.

Sam Burgess has defended his decision to return to rugby league in Australia, saying although he was disappointed to have cut short his contract with Bath, “his heart just isn’t in it”.

“I’d find it very hard to put a different shirt on because I love this club”.

“A lot of lads would die for this club”, George Ford told BBC Points West.

Centre Will Helu, who joined the club from Wasps during the summer, didn’t ever get the chance to play with Denton – but did speak to him yesterday.

“I felt like certain people didn’t want England and Stuart Lancaster to succeed”, he writes.

One can only wonder what Luther Burrell makes of Sam Burgess’s admission that when it came to rugby union his “heart just wasn’t in it”.

Despite that change, however, England still retained hope that he could help fill the sizable void vacated in midfield by Manu Tuilagi and fast-tracked the former Bradford Bulls star into Stuart Lancaster’s World Cup squad ahead of proven performers such as Luther Burrell and club teammate Kyle Eastmond.

David Denton has already proved he can compete with the world’s best back-rows, according to Bath head coach Mike Ford, after the Scotland worldwide made a decision to leave Edinburgh for the Rec. It’s been great watching players grow I can’t wait to get back. “I felt real comfortable in the environment I guess but it is just the perception of how you are portrayed in the media at times”.

“It would’ve taken a good 18 months for me to nail them down and play at the top level, by that time I’m 28-29”. Our schedule over there meant it was very hard to keep up with live.