Speaking on BT Sport on Monday night, Brian O'Driscoll said that if Sam Burgess had committed to rugby union for another year-and-a-half, then the player could have developed into a world class blindside flanker.
Bath coach Mike Ford seems to hold a similar opinion. However, Ford felt that Burgess lacked the 'stomach' to see out the 18 months which remained on his contract at the Aviva Premiership club .
All I know is that he didn't have the stomach to see out his contract. For me this was the time to roll his sleeves up and become the player that I thought he could be -- and he chose not to.
You don't know what he was thinking, it wasn't until the final talk I had with him that I felt there was nothing more I could do.
But I did speak to him about that and about what a fantastic player he could be, and about the investment the club and the players had made in him, and that it was time to repay that. But he chose differently.
In a column for the Daily Mail, Burgess stated that his request for release from his Bath contract was mainly for personal reasons and to play a game - rugby league - which is 'in his heart'.
The 26-year-old also appeared to have a pop at Gordon D'Arcy over an Irish Times article during the World Cup in which he suggested that Burgess' naivety "severely damaged England’s chances of reaching the quarter-finals".
