Burgess can’t play the blame game forever

I QUITE enjoyed the Sam Burgess interview last week. I found him to be a very honest and frank speaking individual.

Some might have considered the interview to be egotistical, but for me it was a person who, though still working things through, was also thankful for the opportunities he had been given.

The interview was always going to get to the 2015 RWC and the fallout of that competition from an England perspective. His frankness was very unEnglish, a breath of fresh air and though I do not doubt his views on his dealings with Mike Ford I do feel that he has still not reconciled the fact that he possibly bit off more than he could chew and that the England coaching/management structure bought into the Burgess phenomenon.

There was much reported regarding the initial approach for Burgess, the differences between Bath and England as to how he should be played, which all seemed to be structured to him playing for England, come what may.

Margins at times are small and in the Wales and Australia games in the 2015 RWC they certainly were, but for Burgess to still believe that his performances in those games were beyond reproach and that the losses were down to Mike and George Ford alone are quite rich.

Burgess was the poster boy of Australian RL prior to his soirée with England and Bath, which possibly fuelled an ego that one can do no wrong and yearning like Alexander for further glory had the lightbulb moment of representing the country of his birth at the Rugby UnionWorld Cup.

No sooner had the light gone on, the power failed and after years of success experienced its first failure. And like many who experience such public failure for the first time, he ran away in a huge puff of distractionary smoke.

As the time passed he would throw out snippets of excuses in preparation for the post-career in punditry and the obligatory autobiography. Yes, there were problems in the England set-up in the build-up and during the 2015 RWC.

But possibly in another 15-20 years Burgess will see life for what it is. Clean your mirror and ensure that it is you standing in front of it when you really want to have a good look at yourself. Move on! Derek Gilbert