Sam Burgess’s eagerly-awaited rugby union debut could happen as early as this Friday after Bath revealed their big cross-code signing is in contention to feature on the bench for their Aviva Premiership fixture against Harlequins.
Burgess has not played a competitive game since suffering a fractured eye-socket and cheekbone playing for South Sydney in last month’s NRL grand final but trained with Bath for the first time last week. “Sam is close to playing,” Mike Ford, the club’s head coach, told the Bath Chronicle. “We will have a sit down with him soon and he will have a massive say in deciding when he is ready.
“It’s seven and a half weeks since the operation so over the next couple of weeks he should be close to playing. We are pleased to have him training, but he obviously still has a lot to learn.”
Bath have indicated they see Burgess as a back-rower in union, despite England’s publicly-expressed desire to field him in the centre. Whatever position he occupies, his introduction to his new sport will be closely monitored by the England management, who are itching to fast-track Burgess into the national squad at the earliest possible opportunity.
In the shorter-term, England are hopeful that lock Courtney Lawes will be fit for Saturday’s Test against Australia. A final decision on the Northampton forward will be made but he has been named in the matchday 23 despite suffering a hyper-extended knee against Samoa. “At the moment I’m assuming he’s going to be fit but as with many injuries we have to give it time to settle down,” said forwards coach Graham Rowntree.
Rowntree is also warning his players not to underestimate the Wallabies ahead of a significant game for both sides. “I don’t trust Australia, they’re a canny team, always have been,” said Rowntree. “They’re one of the most difficult teams to analyse, particularly in the last game of this series. They set you up for things and then do something completely different.
“I’m sure there will be a few tricks up their sleeves, as there always is against Australia. I don’t trust the notion that they’ll potentially struggle in the set-piece. Any time that has been said about them, they’ve proved us wrong.”
England, who will keep faith with Brad Barritt at outside centre after releasing Luther Burrell back to Northampton, have lost eight of their 13 games against Australia since winning the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney. They will be sharing the same 2015 World Cup pool as the Wallabies and that looming prospect makes this fixture “just massive for us” according to Rowntree.
“We’ve not had the consistency of performance we wanted and we’re never going to hide away from that,” said Rowntree. “Like everyone else we’re not over the moon with our performances. We’ll drive our way through – we have to.”
One of England’s specific objectives is to counter the Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, a key figure in Australia’s win in the fixture two years ago. “We have to nullify him at the weekend and keep him quiet,” admitted Rowntree. “He’s a jack-in-the-box, he’s energetic and durable as well. He’s pretty central to everything they do offensively – he’ll need some special attention.”
Elsewhere, the Ireland flanker Chris Henry has had surgery to repair a defect in his heart wall. Henry pulled out of his country’s international against South Africa this month after suffering a temporary blockage of a small blood vessel in his brain. Shane Logan, the chief executive of Ulster, said they were optimistic Henry would make a full recovery and return to professional rugby.
Probable England team v Australia Brown (Harlequins); Watson (Bath), Barritt (Saracens), Twelvetrees (Gloucester), May (Gloucester); Ford (Bath), B Youngs (Leicester); Marler (Harlequins), Hartley (Northampton), Wilson (Bath), Attwood (Bath), Lawes (Northampton), Wood (Northampton), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), Morgan (Gloucester).
Replacements Webber (Bath), Mullan (Wasps), Brookes (Newcastle), Kruis (Saracens), Haskell (Wasps), Wigglesworth (Saracens), Farrell (Saracens), Yarde (Harlequins).