'I grew up supporting Leeds so you never say never': England prop Tom Burgess open to Super League return

The Bradford Bulls academy product left Odsal for South Sydney Rabbitohs at the end of 2012 and has gone on to make over 200 appearances in the NRL.

Burgess is back in England for the World Cup and may yet return in a more permanent capacity.

"I'm pretty settled over there now with a wife and two kids but you never know," the 30-year-old told The Yorkshire Post.

"I'd love to come back for a stint in Super League. I want the game to do well in England – I'm a very proud Englishman and a very proud Yorkshireman.

"I grew up supporting Leeds so you never say never with that sort of stuff.

"Hopefully with this tournament we can really give a shot of life to rugby league in this country."

Burgess led from the front for Shaun Wane's men in a stunning victory over the highly-fancied Samoans in Newcastle.

England were dominant throughout as they ran in 10 tries to make an early statement in the opening game of a home World Cup.

"We had a lot of confidence in our team to do well," said Burgess.

"There has been a lot of talk about Samoa and rightly so because they've got a lot of great players. If you look through their team, half of them played in the NRL Grand Final.

"They've got some great players but we just knew we had a good team as well. We probably didn't think we'd get that many points but it's a great testament to the team and how we just stuck at it.

"It's a great sign moving forward to the knockout games that we can stick at it for 80 minutes regardless of the scoreboard."

England flew under the radar in the build-up to the tournament with all the talk about Samoa, Tonga and traditional powerhouses Australia and New Zealand.

The emergence of the Pacific Islanders can only be a positive, according to Burgess.

"It didn't irk me at all," he added when asked about the attention on other teams.

"I think it's good for the game. They're called tier-two nations but they're up and coming. You see the players that they've got and it's easy to see why they have been talked about the way they have.

"We didn't mind; we want the international game to grow. It blew out a little bit today but I'm sure Samoa will bounce back from that and come runners-up in our group."

Burgess completed the rout with a deserved late try, his second in a World Cup after touching down against Lebanon five years ago.

It came as a relief to the imposing front-rower after losing the ball reaching for the line early on.

"I've got a few but not many," said Burgess.

"It's not my job to score tries but everyone else was getting in on it. I missed the first try and thought I needed to make up for that."