NRL: Heart was never in rugby – Burgess

Burgess returned to former club South Sydney Rabbitohs last week after an unsuccessful 12-month stint as a union player with Bath that culminated in England’s group-stage exit at the World Cup.

“We’ve been looking to bolster our back row for a few time now so we’re very excited that David is joining us”, said Ford.

BATH have moved to fill the void left by the departure of Sam Burgess and failed move for Taulupe Faletau by signing Scotland back row forward David Denton.

Burgess has said that he was “disappointed” to leave the Rec, but felt he was fighting a “losing battle” in union.

Burgess played over 20 times for Bath and was selected in England’s final World Cup squad by Stuart Lancaster after impressing the management in a warm-up game against France.

Burgess, who has said he is returning to league for family reasons and his love of rugby league, told the media Down Under: “Mike may be a bit upset and that’s fine”. “Fordy is entitled to say what he wants but I think that’s more a reflection on himself than me”.

He added: “Away from rugby, I had to weigh up, long-term, whether I wanted to be in England”.

Sam Burgess quit his brief rugby union career because “league is the game in my heart”. He spent the summer with the Scotland squad and was unavailable for the opening Guinness PRO12 matches because of his involvement at the World Cup where he took his cap tally to 32.

You’ve all made mistakes, so let’s just be man enough to admit that and get on with your lives.

“When I got him into the room on the Tuesday before we played Wasps and I’d given him 10 days off, that was the first time he indicated he was struggling”.

“I find that really disappointing and I didn’t want to stay in a sport like that”. Nothing against union at all because I respect what they go through and what they do but for me personally, you have to play with passion and heart.

“There’s lads who would die for the club – those lads who have come through the academy, and other lads like me who have been here for two or three years and are passionate about it”, George Ford said.

“I felt I was never going to win, regardless of what happened, so I thought: ‘I’m going to stop wasting my own time and everyone else’s time here.'”.