I’m desperate to make mark
SAM BURGESS, who departed rugby league a 10- out- of- 10 superhero of the code, gives himself 6.75 as a union player so far.
Four months after his switch from South Sydney, it is a sober self- assessment that underlines how far away the England league international remains from a place in England’s union World Cup squad.
Stuart Lancaster felt so warmly disposed to the Bath centre that he invited him to spend two days with the national squad as an observer earlier in the championship. But the England head coach needs evidence on which to fast- track him, not a hunch.
Life at Bath has been challenging, sporadically rewarding, but never easy for Burgess. The modest self- analysis is a refl ection of both his own honesty and his struggles in his new career.
“I am a tough marker. My girlfriend is quite a harsh critic too – she would rate me about a fi ve at this moment,” said Burgess.
“People expected it to be a smooth ride and that I’d score a try every week, but it is a tough competition.
“I’m quite used to the scrutiny at Sydney, the environment over there is quite similar. The difference is I knew that game; I’m new to this game.
“There are going to be days when I do things wrong. I used to in rugby league and I’d played that game my whole life.
“It has been a massive roller- coaster – but you enjoy roller- coaster rides and I am enjoying this one.”
His teeth do not appear to be gritted as he says this. There have been times, standing motionless as the game has been played out around him, when he has resembled the oversized mannequin he was pretending to be for promotional purposes in London yesterday.
But he senses a corner is being turned.
Slowly, with help from an app on his phone that provides his homework, he is beginning to get to grips with a sport he had only previously played three times as a teenager for Old Brodleians in West Yorkshire.
“I’m a rugby union player now and that’s the view I have to take,” he said. “The sport is a great sport. It has been said that I’m frustrated with things and that I’m not picking it up quickly, but those are other people’s words.
“Sure, there will be times when you are frustrated – when you don’t do things right. That’s part of the game. But I am enjoying it.”
He watched the second half of England’s defeat by Ireland on television as a fan. But remote as the prospect seems, he is not yet ready to write off the Boys’ Own story of an appearance for them in a home World Cup.
“I do like a challenge. Everyone has different opinions on whether I can or cannot do it. What will get me in the team is working hard at Bath and putting in some good performances with them,” he said.
“Time will tell, and the last three weeks have been the best since I’ve been here. That might sound strange as we’ve lost three on the bounce but, with George Ford away, I’ve tried to take a bit more control and I feel like I’ve been on top of everything.
“When we get our international boys back, that’s when hopefully we will see where I’m at properly.”
England centre Luther Burrell is a slight doubt for the Scotland game a week on Saturday with a calf strain that has sidelined him from training this week.
SAM BURGESS was in London to launch the Canterbury Since 1904 Collection, by posing as a live mannequin at House of Fraser in Victoria.