Sam Burgess set to flee rugby union for return to Rabbitohs

It might have been expected that England's dismal World Cup would turn some people off the sport, but surely nobody
thought that would include their special project.

Sam Burgess has "laid his cards on the table" and told English Premiership side Bath that he wants out of the club, out of England and out of rugby union. The league convert wants to reconvert and return to his old team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, according to the Daily Mail. The 26-year-old is due back in training at Bath on Monday after a two-week holiday but, while head coach Mike Ford has previously stated Burgess would stick it out and become one of England's starting back-rowers for Japan 2019, it now seems only a matter of how much it is going to cost Russell Crowe's Rabbitohs to get him back. Having only picked up the 15-man game early last season, Burgess started at inside centre against Wales in the Pool stages of the World Cup and was widely derided for his performance, with former Ireland international Gordon D'Arcy describing him as "naive". It was hoped to transform the powerful runner into a flanker but it now seems he is set on a return to Sydney, where he won the 2014 NRL Grand Final alongside his brothers, twins George and Tom. Currently earning a reported £500,000 per year, any transfer fee will not count under the NRL salary cap, which means Burgess could be back Down Under before the 2016 season begins in March.