For some, Sam Burgess is someone who swanned in to rugby union on a big contract, took a World Cup spot that he didn't deserve and swanned off again when the going got tough. To others he was a rabbit in the headlights, thrown in at an unfamiliar position at the highest level and expected to do more than was humanly possible.
Regardless of what went before, Burgess has left the England rugby union scene and returned to South Sydney Rabbitohs. It may have been the easy option but, in reality, it was the obvious one for Burgess to make. Although he doesn't go along with the belief that it was the easy option, the former Bath man has explained his decision in an article in the Daily Mail and there's one part in particular that may be of interest to Ireland fans.
To get in that 31-man squad, I had to work so hard. To crack it was really, really tough but I loved that. I made it into the team as a 12 and I really felt that I fully deserved to be there. I think a lot of people outside the England camp had an agenda against both England and in some circumstances, me.
Certain ex-players had an agenda and sections of the media had an agenda, too. I also think certain coaches not involved with England had an agenda.
There had been much of criticism of Burgess, or at least the decision to bring him, in advance of the tournament. Similarly, there was plenty of criticism during the tournament, but it was Gordon D'Arcy's Irish Times column that really seemed to polarise opinion.
The English media swarmed on D'Arcy's analysis and and, as tends to happen, the soundbites came across as significantly more cutting than the original illuminating column did as a whole. English fans were up in arms and D'Arcy's opinion was put forward as proof that rugby union's old guard were being unfairly critical of Burgess.
It must be said that there was plenty of interest from inside England as well, with Will Carling being to the fore in that regard, but it would have been difficult for Burgess to miss D'Arcy's column given the coverage it received.
And whether he was speaking about D'Arcy or not, in his Daily Mail article, Burgess continued in a similar fashion.
Some ex-players just kept letting rip. It was a losing battle from day one. I couldn’t believe it. It’s almost like they don’t want anyone else to do well in the jersey.
Much like D'Arcy's original article, there's significantly more to what Burgess has had to say than simply those soundbites so feel free to read it in full and make your own mind up about Burgess and his decision to return to rugby league.
