Ben Te’o making mark in union as Sam Burgess heads back to league

As if English rugby was not in enough turmoil already following a dismal World Cup campaign, the decision by Sam Burgess to turn his back on the union code and head back to league came as yet another bitter blow last weekend.

For those looking on from afar the Burgess saga has been a curious affair, and nowhere more than Leinster, who visit the Englishman’s former club Bath in the Champions Cup round two in 11 days and will, injury permitting following a mild gluteal strain last weekend, be taking a rather more successful code-switcher with them in Ben Te’o.

Such is the trouble in which English rugby finds itself that just six days ago Bath coach Mike Ford was predicting a bright future in the 15-man game for league convert Burgess. As Champions Cup organisers launched the latest edition of their tournament at The Twickenham Stoop last Wednesday, in the shadow of the stadium which had seen the hosts’s hopes of glory on home soil crash and burn, Ford was the focus of the English media’s attention.