Lancaster expects Sam Burgess to stay in union despite cross-code temptation

England head coach Stuart Lancaster is convinced Sam Burgess will remain a rugby union player, despite speculation he will return to league rugby after the World Cup. Odds have been shortened on Burgess ending his cross-code adventure after only a year and one bookmaker has stopped taking bets, amid reports he is set to join Leeds Rhinos.

England crashed out of the World Cup with a 33-13 defeat by Australia on Saturday. Burgess’s contribution to the campaign was one start and two replacement appearances. The 26-year-old Yorkshireman has been dropped from the matchday 23 for Saturday’s final match against Uruguay and there is a groundswell of opinion that he has made his last Red Rose appearance.

Lancaster, however, insists Burgess will not be ending his three-and-a-half-year contract after only 12 months.