Burgess will need to decide on switch, says Lancaster

England rugby league star Sam Burgess is tackled by France's Gregory Mounis.

Reports have said that England star Sam Burgess has agreed to a move at the end of the year, part-funded by the Rugby Football Union, with Bath identified as his likely destination in the Aviva Premiership.

The 25-year-old forward, who would likely play at inside centre were he to cross codes, is contracted to the South Sydney Rabbitohs meaning a transfer fee of around £500,000 having to be paid to the NRL club.

It would prove a massive blow for the 13-man code to lose Burgess, the gifted Yorkshireman who started out at Bradford Bulls.

“It’s all a bit hypothetical at the moment and is just speculation as far as I’m aware. The RFU haven’t made any approach to the Rabbitohs,” said Lancaster.

“It’s really an issue for Sam if he wanted to come to rugby union.

“He’s under contract and would need to persuade his club to release him and another club to sign him.

“We don’t centrally contract players so it would have to be an arrangement with an English club.”

It has been suggested Burgess could participate in England’s 2015 World Cup campaign, but Lancaster insists the timescale would make it difficult for any league convert to make a meaningful case for selection for the tournament.

“It would be a challenge, big time, because of the nature of learning the sport and everything else that goes with it,” he said.

“There’s a bigger picture about developing a team that goes way beyond 2015 as well.”

Meanwhile, a row is escalating between Burgess’s former club Bradford and Hull FC after the latter made it known they were hoping to sign ex-England prop Garreth Carvell from Odsal.

They are in the search for front-rows after losing Liam Watts and Chris Green to injuries.

Hull said they are “monitoring the situation” at Bradford who have hit financial problems again.

But the riled Bulls responded in a statement: “We are shocked and disappointed by some of the comments made regarding one of our players.

“To say we are baffled by talk that another club is ‘monitoring’ an ‘on-going contract situation’ would be an understatement.

“Our message is very, very clear: Leave our team alone. No one is for sale.”