On making a quicker exit than expected: ‘I wanted to go in and see the team, to get my point across, but Stuart Hooper, our captain, said he didn’t think I’d be well received there, which was fair enough – if that’s how he felt’.
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On the criticism from former players: ‘It was a losing battle from day one. “It’s been the hardest decision I’ve ever made, as I am going to miss the club, but I am really looking forward to an opportunity to play at one of the premier clubs in Europe”.
Burgess said he was keen to rejoin his family, who remained in Australia, and said he was “sorry” for leaving Bath so soon. “I didn’t want to stay in a sport like that”.
He achieved that aim while playing two different positions, with Bath seeing him as a back-row forward and England an inside centre.
Although Burgess admits that the months spent building up to the World Cup were probably the most enjoyable of his short union career, he lamented what he felt was an agenda from a few ex-players who pursued both himself and Lancaster with unhelpful comments in the media.
On switching codes: ‘I don’t regret giving it a go but my heart just isn’t in union’.
“We were looking towards Christmas as the time for me to leave, but then the transfer fee got paid and after that it was out of my hands”.
Burgess described as “unfair” the criticism of the Rugby Football Union by such as Woodward, Carling and Will Greenwood, writing that he “disagreed with this idea that I have been let down or treated badly”.
Burgess, whose selection for the World Cup squad ahead of the established Luther Burrell reportedly caused disquiet in the England camp, said his decision to quit union had dismayed his global and club team-mates.
“This was an upsetting factor to me, that people who are supposed to love the game are actually tearing it to shreds”. I felt like certain people didn’t want England and Stuart Lancaster to succeed. I thought he had a good game.
“They were after him – so aggressively”. But he wasn’t permitted to explain his decision to the Bath playing group. They didn’t push me into it. In fact, they have been supportive through it all. He could never do a thing right, no matter what.
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“I came to union to try to play at 12, but I ended up playing at six for Bath”, he added. I was right in the middle of that and it is unbelievable. That’s what I mean about people having agendas’.
