Fords hang Burgess out to dry after early Bath exit

Burgess rejoined the South Sydney Rabbitohs, with whom he won an NRL title in 2014, after just a year in rugby union and Mike Ford said the 26-year-old "didn't have the stomach" to fight for his future in the 15-man code.

Fords hang Burgess out to dry after early Bath exit

(Reuters)





Burgess had laid bare his reasons for the switch in a column in the Daily Mail in which he revealed that Bath captain Stuart Hooper had advised him not to visit the training ground to bid his team mates farewell.

George, who also plays for Bath, backed Hooper's decision and condemned Burgess for letting down "the lads who would die for him" at the club.

"People have had a go at Stuart for it, but he's the best captain I've worked under," George said.

"I feel for the lads and back Stuart 100 percent.

"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."

Burgess was a surprise inclusion in England coach Stuart Lancaster's ill-fated World Cup squad and George said he would not have been called up without the support of his team mates.

"The lads who would die for this club sacrificed a lot for Sam when he came over and committed to him, and put time and effort into making him the player he was at the back end of last year when he was named in that World Cup squad."

Like his father, George suggested that Burgess lacked the will to fight for his future and had taken the easy way out by switching codes a second time.

"I'm really disappointed, massively disappointed," he said.

"Nothing ever gets given to you. Nothing is ever easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

"To become a world-class player in rugby union, you've got to put in the hard graft and it does take time. It doesn't come overnight. It's just whether you want to do it or not.

"I was surprised. Everyone knows he was a world-class rugby league player but I thought he was a guy who was going to have a go and stick it out."





(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)


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Source: Reuters



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