Dave Craven: Brilliant Burgess can follow the steps of sporting star Sonny Bill

I’M not sure if Kevin Sinfield was showing real prescience or just his usual common sense.
England's Sam Burgess.England's Sam Burgess.
England's Sam Burgess.

It was the Leeds Rhinos captain who, while fulfilling the same duty with England last November, said this about his international colleague Sam Burgess in comparison to the great Kiwi Sonny Bill Williams ahead of their World Cup semi-final with New Zealand.

“They are both right up there,” he offered. “I think what Sonny Bill has done in both union and league and boxing, I reckon Sam is the type of athlete and stature who could do something similar.

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“They are both formidable athletes and both fantastic blokes and they have a huge impact on how their teams play.”

At the time, Sinfield was probably referring to Burgess’s potential to go into the ring – if he ever wanted to – and, like SBW, become a champion boxer. It is a given that he could make the transition to union.

Yet the point was made; the 25 year-old is the sort of freakishly talented human who could, in theory, turn his hand to any sport.

Throw another in there, too; as a kid, before signing on at Bradford Bulls, Burgess was noted as a cricketer of some repute at Heckmondwike Grammar School and was also a regular for Liversedge CC. His golf swing is pretty impressive too.

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Indeed, it was amusing last summer when the South Sydney player admitted that, having completed the requisite four years in the country, he would be applying for Australian residency.

There was no need; he was already qualified as a ‘typical Aussie’ – annoyingly good at all sports. However, it is the chance to play rugby union for England that is apparently drawing him back from the superstar lifestyle Down Under to Blighty with a contract understood to have already been agreed with Bath.

Predictably, there is the usual furore from the union press that the brilliant forward is simply not good enough to make the grade, particularly in the problematic inside centre position.

But of all the ‘league-ies’ the RFU have turned to in order to try and cure their midfield conundrum – and there have been plenty – Burgess is undoubtedly the best qualified to succeed. And he will succeed. No doubting.

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That is because, like SBW who has managed to transcend three professional sports – he won the 2011 World Cup with the All Blacks before taking the New Zealand heavyweight boxing crown – Burgess has not only the footballing skills to do so but the physical and mental strength too.

Moreover, he is a genuine world-class star at the top of his game, highlighted by the remarkable performance in which he outshone Sonny Bill in that World Cup semi, a display that has him talked about as potentially an RL all-time great.

No doubt, though, he will have seen SBW’s ability to grasp such varied opportunities and realised he could achieve the same too.

It is pure folly to suggest Burgess – equally devastating at prop, second-row or loose forward – cannot operate as an inside centre in union. In fact, it is the ideal position for him and the 2015 World Cup would be a realistic target if, as suggested, he leaves Souths for a £500,000 fee at the end of this year.

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At six foot five and more than 18 stone, he is a huge physical specimen which would allow him to act as a bulldozing type but, allied to that threat, he also has the nimble footwork of a ballerina – anyone watching the Rugby League World Cup would realise this – and a deft handling ability often under-used in his current code.

Burgess can smash anything in defence and also has a booming kicking game in his locker even if it has not really been seen since his Odsal Academy days.

Furthermore, he probably has more pace than Mike Tindall ever had. Number 12 would suit him perfectly.

Of the converts who have tried to establish themselves at centre for England, either at 12 or 13, they all had their merits but none had a resume as fulsome as Burgess.

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Hape was a fine Kiwi centre and gave outstanding service for Bradford but he was never an exceptional league international and his knees had long creaked before moving to Bath in 2008.

Andy Farrell, the former Wigan and Great Britain captain, is indeed a rugby league legend but the imposing loose forward switched too late and was dogged by injuries, limiting his impact.

He is, of course, now England assistant, and so will be crucial in the player’s development.

Joel Tomkins was a decent enough player for Wigan and England before joining Saracens in 2011 but far from a great.

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Yet, after playing in the autumn internationals, the jury is still out on whether he can be a long-term member of Stuart Lancaster’s plans. Many thought another ex-Bull Henry Paul, perhaps, was the best placed player to succeed for England when he moved to Gloucester in 2006 but he largely failed to impress for the red rose.

Chev Walker was identified as a potential international by then-England coach Brian Ashton but was back in Super League inside just 11 months. Lee Smith did not even last that long.

Eastmond – while yet to debut – has won a place in Lancaster’s England elite training squad and, intriguingly, announced a new contract at Bath only last week having established himself as their inside centre after his move from St Helens in 2011.

Now 24, he played alongside Burgess as a scrum-half in England’s 2009 Four Nations final defeat at Elland Road.

Yet it is a surprise Burgess actually wants to play union.

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Granted, he has long made known his desire to play international football in front of packed out grounds – the difference between Six Nations and World Cups, compared to their league versions is obvious.

He is, after all, a real showman as well as a splendid player – something Russell Crowe, the Hollywood actor and co-owner of Souths, would have realised when facilitating his move in 2009.

But the reality of playing in what is often a turgid and one-dimensional Aviva Premiership competition on a weekly basis is something different entirely.

It is ironic that, having seen all his family follow him out one by one to Sydney – all three brothers now play for Souths and his mother Julie works in the area as a teacher – it is Sam, so publicly enthusiastic about the Aussie lifestyle, who returns to England.

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However, the biggest irony lies not there but with the Ford connection.

A few years ago, while still a player at Bradford, it was Burgess and his then-Bulls coach Steve McNamara who went to the Oldham home of George Ford and tried persuading the prodigiously talented schoolboy to sign at Odsal and not accept counter offers in union.

Having already earlier broken into the Great Britain team at the age of just 18 on the back of his Bradford tutelage, Burgess was seen as a shining example of what the youngster could achieve with the West Yorkshire club.

Ford listened, as did his father Mike, the ex-Castleford, Wigan and GB scrum-half who later became England RU defensive coach, when McNamara put forward his case.

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In the end, though, the teenager – who had been on Bradford’s scholarship – chose to join Leicester Tigers. He now plays for Bath. And England. And the fly-half’s dad is coach of Bath too.

I wonder if the roles of persuader have been reversed at all in the last few months?

AND ANOTHER THING

I love the new rule in the Australian-based NRL about captains only being allowed to talk to referees at certain stages of a game.

Apparently, the only stoppages when they can now approach an official is after a try has been scored, during an injury break or when the referee is issuing a caution. And, also, when leaving the pitch at half-time.

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Captains had previously been allowed to question decisions after a penalty was awarded or scrum formed but often, ostensibly, this was done to give team-mates greater chance to realign in defence or catch a breather.

It slowed the game down.

However, why I love it so much is the fact it says only “captains” are allowed to open their mouths.

It just reminds me once more about the huge difference in culture between this sport and football.

It is just taken for granted that it is the captain - and him alone - who will question the official (and in a civilised manner) not a horde of venting, fuming, nostril-flared imbeciles intent on embarrassing themselves and their game.

Please, please, please can FIFA adopt a similar ruling too, if anything just to see how John Terry’s reaction on being told he’s not allowed to open his gob for 45 minutes?