Well, former Ireland centre Gordon D’Arcy decided that, since he wouldn’t get the chance to face Sam Burgess on the park, he would sledge him as publicly, and with as much venom, as he could off it. And boy did he succeed.
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That’s the brutal assessment of Gordon D’Arcy who played 82 tests for Ireland.
Burgess’s performance as centre for England have been under the microscope since he was thrust into the World Cup limelight with just 112 minutes of rugby union under his belt. Williams served his apprenticeship at Toulon and then Canterbury before making slow inroads with the All Blacks. Again, it takes time.
In contrast D’Arcy stated “Sam Burgess only arrived at a Bath training session last October”.
After starting positively with a 35-11 win over Fiji in the tournament opener, England’s three point loss to Wales puts them in danger of failing to get out of the pool of death.
“It’s simply not possible for him to be ready”, the soon-to-be retired 35-year-old wrote in his latest column for the Irish Times after recalling that it took him approximately three years to become properly acclimatised to playing at centre.
He also criticises Barritt, who he says was responsible for numerous defensive mistakes that cost England the match, and praises the “creative” Welsh attack that won them their only try.
He said that Burgess was replaced in the second half “because the England coaching team accepted, long after everyone else, that he had no idea what was happening around him”.
He will partner Conrad Smith in midfield with regular number 12 one Ma’a Nonu one of four players on the injured list.
“All Burgess did was run straight in search of collisions with Jamie Roberts (who obliged but really conned him most of the time)”.
A few English media have reported that Burgess will not make it into the England team to play a crunch game against Australia on Saturday.
Although the ex-Leinster stalwart conceded that Burgess did not lack effort in what was only his third senior global appearance since switching codes, he further stressed that his skill-set had yet to transfer from rugby league to union and that pure physicality was never likely to be enough to impress on the night.
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But D’Arcy felt Australia had their own problems with enigmatic first-five Quade Cooper.
