I very much doubt that.

You're more likely to get three different versions of events (Ford/Bath, Lancaster/England Rugby, & Burgess). People will then have to decide which parts of each they believe most. And then the whole saga/debate will re-start......

An interesting (& highly irritating) side point to this saga: the BBC, Sky etc's take on the latest events seems to be almost wholly from a Union standpoint/bias. Any number of ex-Union internationals/pundits have been trotted out to give their opinion. Have these national media outlets sought out the opinions of McNamara/Kear/McDermott/Eddie & Stevo etc etc? I have heard virtually no upbeat reporting on how great this is for RL. Equally, when the boot was on the other foot 12 months ago & Burgess was poached by Union (no difference in my eyes), lo & behold all the upbeat talk from the media on how great this was & Union pundits again are the only ones in sight.

I realise some may see this as a "chip on the shoulder" post, but really I do find the balance of reporting distorted

Not surprising - it is. Those of an enquiring mind may be persuaded to dig deeper though, as might the odd journo (although in my experience the sports ones have some of the least enquiring minds going).

Their's comments from McNamara and Jon Wilkin in the BBC website. The angle the whole thing is taking now though isn't really blaming Burgess anymore, it's attacking England RU and they way they handled it and even former RU players and coaches coming out saying Burgess could've been great IF he'd been given time and RU have let a diamond slip out of their hands.

Clive Woodward has been pretty spot on in his views,

"The RFU has spent the last four years congratulating itself on the direction in which we're heading, but the truth is we have marched confidently into a total mess,"

"We are the laughing stock of not only world rugby but also sport and business. The rest of the world says those involved in English rugby are arrogant. I hate this reputation, but that is exactly what the RFU has been

Please God know, not those two on BBC Breakfast as the voice of RL, we'd never live it down

"Well, Eddie, as I see it Burgess should have tried a little chip over the top in the second stanza against Wales"

"Well Sam isn't to blame for the loss against Wales. It's because the coach didn't get the message out not to give away any silly penalties!"

The majority of this fiasco is down to Lancaster. It baffles me how he got the England job in the first place.
He had virtually no experience of coaching at the highest level.
England's only hope is to appoint Woodward as director of rugby, he will select a coaching team that should do justice to what seems a decent squad of players.

Perhaps my use of Eddie & Stevo as "experts" was a little overstretching it!

"My wife will be furious when I get back to the sheds at half time"

Well they need to do something, if exiting their own Workd Cup at the group stage doesn't kick them up he backside nothing will.

Woodward is right, they are arrogant. They've gone along living off that success in 2003. Hell since then they've only won 1 of the next 12 Six Nations, that's pitiful for a team that is hyped like it is. Wales and France have won 4 each in that time and Ireland 3, all managing at least one or more Grand Slams in that time. In comparison England won 3 of the previous 4 Six Nations tournaments before that 2003 WC win.

They got battered by South Africa in the group stages of the 2007 WC and somehow by hook or by crook they dragged themselves into the final and it papered over the cracks. The 2011 WC was a disaster both on and off the field and they promised change yet when they got to 2015 they produced more embarrassment both on and off the field.

Their campaign and current status is very much similar to the cricketers. Both entered a World Cup in 2015, both were shown up to be playing an old school outdated style of the game that looked even more ridiclous compared to the attacking exciting style of its opposition. Questionable selection calls and a coach who whilst bigged up was massively lacking come crunch time.

One thing that doesn't add up in this for me.

It's being reported that Burgess is marrying his fiancée in Sydney next month. Has anybody seen Bath's fixture list for December, big Premiership games, huge European games. And this was a guy who wanted to force his way into the 6 Nations squad as a forward. How they hell would arranging a wedding on the other side of the world during your club sides trickiest period tie in with someone who saw his future in RU post World Cup, whatever the outcome of that tournament? Was he ever really going to stick around?

nope. He stole the headlines and took a nice year out while playing in the WC which i believed all along when he went, and still do, he was assured of playing some part in. He goes back to South Sydney in no worse a position he left 12 months ago, and can always say he gave the other code crack and played in a huge home WC. He still has his prime years ahead of him and his bank balance is unaffected.Win-Win Sam Burgess, RFU well and truly duped. It's hilarious, good for him i say

I do not think his role or style is to pass on rumours or hearsay before things were resolved, that is for places like this forum. Now that Burgess has left he can share some of his information with us which IMO makes this source more credible.

While I would suggest quite the opposite. (see above)

His role is in the media, exactly the role that he'd mention the rumour if he believed in it. Media guys don't sit on a story for 3 weeks.

Like I said on another thread the RFU were so focussed on the "brand" they forgot the primary objective was to win big rugby games.
Giving Lancaster a 4 year extension to his contract before the WC was even more self congratulatory. Nothing wrong here, all how we like it.
And still if that hopeless decision maker of a captain had let Owen Farrell kick that last penalty against Wales then a draw would have seen England through the group stage and we would have been faced with Lancaster and Farrell to prepare us for the next WC in Japan.

The whole house of cards on the field is built on the foundation of a captain who gets to be captain because he's a jolly good bloke and plays for the right club.

Robshaw is maybe the third best English open-side at a push, certainly behind Steffon Armitage and Matt Kvesic. How can he be expected to lead a team, most of whom are smart enough to know that he's lucky to even be in the XV to start with?

If they'd beaten Wales then they may have been crowned as world beaters and Burgess may still have been at Bath.

No Chance. They were never going to beat South Africa - New Zealand - Australia

They should have made the quarters mind, but that would likely still have been end of the road.

Ironically if you watched Robshaw in his earlier years at Quins he was a great ball handler and offloader. When Quins and Saracens were competing for the title they were total opposites in style, Quins threw the ball around and played fast and off the cuff, Saracens had Farrell punting the ball in the air to kick and chase and played tight, forward based rugby. Effective at times but utterly boring to watch. Sound familiar ?

I agree that I don't think they would have but if they'd beaten Wales they'd have gone through to the knock out stage and you just never know. What I was meaning really is that sometimes the difference between success and failure can be slim. Look at Wigan this year. They were 2 tries away from what I think would have been a deserved double. The England team in Italia 90 were one goal away from going out in the group stage and went on to be an iconic team and a couple of penalties away from a World Cup final.

While England RU don't sound to have been that convincing I do think things have been blown out of proportion a little and as a result for once I think the only winner has been RL.

I understand your point but those are the margins that separate winners and losers at the top level. The All Blacks have won many games in added time where any mistake ends the match. They won the previous WC final by 1 point. How many tight games do the top sporting sides seem to just win? Leeds do it far too often for it to be just probability. It's at the moments when you need to make something happen or dig in that the great teams perform.
In the case of England they should have been competitive. We have some very good players, they're fit and they were playing at their home ground. In fact they didn't even need to beat Wales - a draw (which was possible until Robshaw blundered) wound have seen the through. But they blew it. They also blew out against Australia. But if you look back through Lancaster's tenure that has been a characteristic of this England side. Blowing out in big games, particularly in the 6 nations which Lancaster never won in 4 attempts.

As sad as I am when we loose our "stars" to the NRL, I'd rather they make the trip down under than go to yawnion. Those of us who remember all the predjudice we were dealt by RU in days gone by is still fresh in the memory. I didn't watch any of the Rugby (Yawnion) World Cup. Glad that Sam is back (I LMFAO every time a league convert dosen't cut it, but I don't think it will put them off poaching others).

I think after the game yesterday we ought to stop calling it Yawnion. The irony police will have to start making arrests.

Hard to make a case against on the evidence presented.