Burgess leaves Bath for league

Sam Burgess has left Bath with immediate effect.

Dual-code international Burgess is returning to rugby league after completing only one year of a three-year deal at the Recreation Ground.

The news comes less than 24 hours after Bath owner Bruce Craig stated that Burgess, who played for England at the rugby union World Cup, would be seeing out the remainder of his contract.

Burgess was selected as an inside centre for England at the World Cup, having played predominantly as flanker for Bath, and received criticism for his performances, as Stuart Lancaster’s side crashed out in the group stage.

As reports of his departure began to leak out, former England centre Will Greenwood tweeted: “Am I hearing @SamBurgess8 has left Bath? If so rugby union has let the lad down..”

Burgess has been strongly linked with a return to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the club he left for union 12 months ago, while Super League champions Leeds also declared an interest.

Meanwhile, Warren Gatland will relinquish his post as Wales boss after the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Wales’s longest-serving coach took the helm in 2007, and has claimed two Six Nations Grand Slams in his tenure. The former Wasps boss plans to return home to New Zealand in 2019, and could make a long-term bid to coach the All Blacks.

“I’m here until 2019 and the plan for me then is definitely to come home for a period,” Gatland said.

“If I was involved in provincial rugby or Super Rugby, that would be great, but if I’m not, I may have to go to the beach for six months or 12 months, put my feet up and take a bit of a break. That’s the plan. I’ve been away for long enough. I’m 52, so hopefully I’ve got plenty more years left coaching.

“Post-2019, definitely, the plan is to come back home to New Zealand.”