Sam Burgess believes that politics cost him his dream to captain England and forced his return to rugby league.
The 36-year-old remains one of the most famous code-hoppers of all time, leaving rugby league following the 2014 NRL Grand Final victory with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, in which he was named man of the match, only to return a year later following England’s ill-fated campaign in the rugby union World Cup.
Burgess, who now coaches Warrington Wolves in the Super League, remains one of the greatest ‘what ifs’ in rugby union, but he recently outlined how he thinks his career would have panned out had he not returned to Australia.
Joining the Stick to Cricket podcast recently, the former England rugby league captain has explained how he believes he would have had a “successful career in rugby union.”
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“I played at the highest level, I played for England,” the NRL hall of famer said. “I felt my contribution to the country was good. I believe if I continued to play rugby union, I’d have gone on to play for England numerous times, I would have had the ambition to lead my country and captain my country, and that was a thought I had post World Cup.”
However, the former Bath star confessed that he did not have the right motivation to remain in the 15-man code.
“My motivation was to prove people wrong, and it’s not the way I work, I do it for my own satisfaction,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have been doing it for the right reasons. I would have definitely had a successful career in rugby union, I believe, had I spent more time there.
“I had a great time. I played in the Premiership final for Bath. I played for England and we fell out of that tournament in quite dramatic fashion and then at the end of the day I ended up going back to Australia.
“I just didn’t like a lot of the politics in the game, it’s not who I was, and I didn’t feel I was playing there for the reasons that I wanted to be there. I was doing it for other people. So I went back to rugby league, which, at heart, is what I am, a rugby league player.”
Having played the bulk of his time with Bath in the back-row, Burgess was deployed as a centre by Stuart Lancaster for England. He returned to league having never fully settled on a position, but believes he would have ended up a flanker had he continued his career in union.