Burgess returns to warm embrace of Australian league
By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY (Reuters) - After a turbulent 18 months during which he became a scapegoat for England's rugby union World Cup woes, Sam Burgess returned to the warm embrace of Australian rugby league and the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday.
The bruising physicality the host nation had hoped would fire their challenge for a second World Cup triumph last year was clearly evident but did not need to be decisive as the Rabbitohs ran out 42-10 winners over the Sydney Roosters.
The Yorkshireman's last performance in the famous myrtle and red hoops of the National Rugby League (NRL) side had been as Man of the Match in a "Grand Final" victory in 2014 that gave the Rabbitohs their first championship in 43 years.
As such, he was always going to receive a warm welcome from the large contingent of Souths fans in the crowd of 25,000 at the Sydney Football Stadium for the round one local derby against the Boys from Bondi.
They were soon making plenty more noise as the Rabbitohs ran in five unanswered tries in the first half an hour to all but ensure they would win the latest edition in the oldest rivalry in Australian rugby league.
Burgess showed his strength with a typical surge towards the line early on that came up just short and his speed when he nearly got onto a kick through that the shell-shocked Roosters defence failed to deal with.
He was cheered back to his position behind the posts for the restart after every try -- there were three more from the Rabbitohs after the break -- even if his efforts were largely restricted to the engine room.
The Rabbitohs, co-owned by Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe, have gambled heavily on Burgess's return, kicking out stalwarts Dylan Walker and Chris McQueen to get his lucrative three-year deal in under the salary cap.
After finishing seventh last year and making a first round exit in the playoffs, the expectations will be high that Burgess's return to join his twin brothers George and Tom at Redfern Oval can return the Rabbitohs to the heights of 2014.
On Sunday's evidence, they are far more realistic expectations than those which greeted Burgess when he made the switch to English rugby union less than a year before the World Cup.
The 27-year-old became the touchstone for criticism of the mismanagement of England's World Cup challenge, which was exposed when the hosts made a first round exit.
"I don't expect to be loved by everyone and from the outside I can see why people might have those headlines," he said this week.
"The saving grace for me is I can look at myself in the mirror and know I gave 110 per cent. I definitely didn't let my country down.
"Every time I got given the jumper, I gave it my best shot and my performances actually, when I looked back and reviewed them, I was very happy with them.
"It's part and parcel of being a professional athlete and being in the public eye -- you roll the good with the bad."
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)