Chris Rattue: Come home, Sam Burgess

Sam Burgess of England hauls down Michael Hooper of Australia. Photo / Getty

Come home Sam Burgess, your true sport needs and treasures you. Which means, for this particular Englishman, leaving England.

Now that we've got England out of the Rugby World Cup way, it's time to make a plea for Burgess to go back to league where it is played best, in Australia. The NRL also needs prodding in the obvious direction, to strike while the iron is bitterly cold in English union and move heaven and earth to get Slammin Sam back to the code he was born to play.

To do so, the NRL can play on the inevitable fallout of England's Twickenham World Cup defeats -- the Daily Mail has recently quoted an un-named senior player as saying: "Sam's a strong bloke and decent bloke but he's not as good as he or the coaches think he is."

With any luck, his high shot late in England's predictably clunky performance against Australia will be his last act, or very close to it, in rugby union. The NRL can convince Burgess, a league giant with no equal in the game right now, that he's backed a loser in union by playing for a team that won't allow him to cut loose.

I've got no idea whether he's a good rugby union player or not, or more importantly whether he can ever be one. How would anyone know, because he only switched a year ago.

One thing is certain: his union prowess will never get close to matching what he has done in rugby league, or his status in that game. Watching Burgess playing rugby for England at this World Cup has been like finding Seinfeld on the shopping channel, looking at a magnificent lion trapped in a zoo, or discovering a slab of tofu in a hamburger. It's just not right.

Burgess wasn't just a league player. He was a legend, already, a truly towering figure in any league team he played, and the sport itself. Yet he was cast as a late-game roll-of-the-dice by England coach Stuart Lancaster against the Wallabies at Twickenham.

The 26-year-old would be my first forward picked in an all time rugby league selection from the past 30 years. I've never seen one forward have so much influence on those around him. He had it all in the middle of the field, as a prop or lock. His courage and fierce competitiveness was never bettered. He made South Sydney into a powerhouse who won the NRL title. Without him, they were also rans. His standing also gave the England league team far greater mana, and in turn offered international rugby league -- which is on its knees -- a bit more hope.

Burgess made the switch to rugby union too late to be effective at this World Cup. Lauded in his native sport, maybe Burgess thought he could walk on water. But getting to run with the ball in an English rugby jersey is harder than that.

Burgess didn't understand how difficult union is to embed in the instincts. Rugby union involves far more complex angles and rules yet his star and athletic power was allowed to prematurely alter England's selections and thinking.

If run-of-the-mill players swap codes, who cares? But Burgess is something very, very different. As someone who can love watching both codes, I'd say to Sam Burgess please come home. Which, for this great Englishman, is Australian rugby league.