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Rugby World Cup 2015
Sam Burgess U Turn
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<blockquote data-quote="smartcooky" data-source="post: 770663" data-attributes="member: 20605"><p>From a neutral perspective, I don't think SB was give a fair shake by England rugby. His transition to RU was grossly mismanaged. For starters, they couldn't make up their minds where to play him; Bath saw Burgess as a flanker, England played him at inside centre. Now to be fair, Burgess had played both second row and midfield back in RL, and while thisis not uncommon in RL, e.,g. Brad Fittler, Joel Thompson, Mitchell Aubisson, Simon Mannering & Ruben Wiki, the game is a different animal.</p><p></p><p>England's difficulties in the midfield haven't been anything to do with Burgess. Its been that they seemed for many years to be unable to settle on a combination. Just looking at the matches between NZ and England since the 2011 World Cup</p><p></p><p>England<span style="color: #FFFFFF">.............................</span>New Zealand</p><p></p><p>2012 Barritt/Tuilagi<span style="color: #ffffff">..........</span> - Nonu/Smith</p><p>2013 Twelvetrees/Tomkins - Nonu/Smith</p><p>2014 Eastmond/Tuilagi<span style="color: #ffffff">.....</span> - Nonu/Smith</p><p>2014 Twelvetrees/Burrell<span style="color: #ffffff">..</span> - Nonu/Smith</p><p>2014 Eastmond/Tuilagi<span style="color: #ffffff">.....</span> - Nonu/Fekitoa</p><p>2015 Eastmond/Barritt.... - Williams/Smith</p><p></p><p>Five different centre pairings in six matches. In the 126 matches England have played between RWC 2003 and the start of RWC 2015, they have used 43 different 12/13 pairings. Over the same period, NZ have used 12, including over 60 tests by Nonu & Smith. If anyone has scapegoated Sam Burgess for England's problems in the midfield, then that is very unfair IMO. Brad Thorn took two years to change from RL to RU and get a berth in the All Blacks; he turned down his first AB jersey because he wasn't sure he was ready, but went on to become one of our best ever lock forwards. Even SBW was given a number of low-level club games before being used sparingly in Super Rugby until he found his feet.</p><p></p><p>Burgess was brought in as a quick fix, and it failed. Not his fault!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="smartcooky, post: 770663, member: 20605"] From a neutral perspective, I don't think SB was give a fair shake by England rugby. His transition to RU was grossly mismanaged. For starters, they couldn't make up their minds where to play him; Bath saw Burgess as a flanker, England played him at inside centre. Now to be fair, Burgess had played both second row and midfield back in RL, and while thisis not uncommon in RL, e.,g. Brad Fittler, Joel Thompson, Mitchell Aubisson, Simon Mannering & Ruben Wiki, the game is a different animal. England's difficulties in the midfield haven't been anything to do with Burgess. Its been that they seemed for many years to be unable to settle on a combination. Just looking at the matches between NZ and England since the 2011 World Cup England[COLOR=#FFFFFF].............................[/COLOR]New Zealand 2012 Barritt/Tuilagi[COLOR=#ffffff]..........[/COLOR] - Nonu/Smith 2013 Twelvetrees/Tomkins - Nonu/Smith 2014 Eastmond/Tuilagi[COLOR=#ffffff].....[/COLOR] - Nonu/Smith 2014 Twelvetrees/Burrell[COLOR=#ffffff]..[/COLOR] - Nonu/Smith 2014 Eastmond/Tuilagi[COLOR=#ffffff].....[/COLOR] - Nonu/Fekitoa 2015 Eastmond/Barritt.... - Williams/Smith Five different centre pairings in six matches. In the 126 matches England have played between RWC 2003 and the start of RWC 2015, they have used 43 different 12/13 pairings. Over the same period, NZ have used 12, including over 60 tests by Nonu & Smith. If anyone has scapegoated Sam Burgess for England's problems in the midfield, then that is very unfair IMO. Brad Thorn took two years to change from RL to RU and get a berth in the All Blacks; he turned down his first AB jersey because he wasn't sure he was ready, but went on to become one of our best ever lock forwards. Even SBW was given a number of low-level club games before being used sparingly in Super Rugby until he found his feet. Burgess was brought in as a quick fix, and it failed. Not his fault! [/QUOTE]
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