I don't want to be rude but that just reads like a load of nonsense. Firstly there action would be against the player, it's very unlikely they would be able to prove "enticement" especially when he's reportedly talking to several clubs, that makes it seem like Sam B is in control.

I also suspect you are inaccurate when talking about the effect and compensation for a breach of contract, he's merely an employee, it's not a business to business breach, the level of compensation would be closely tied to his remaining salary.

With regards payment of compensation they are clearly happy to do so, around the half million mark, so that will be the end of it. Neither of us are lawyers, and I may well be wrong but you are plucking all sorts out of the air to make your argument. I'm not convinced one bit by the extradition and prison stuff you mention but as we are both laymen I will leave it there, and wait for the wise ones to contribute.

I see above Sheldon has made a case to suggest the compensation level is reasonable compared to SBW's buying out of his contract, which backs up my original point.

A) I never mentioned enticement. The only reason the rfu would be in any way liable would be to help their new player.

B) so between 2008 and now, after signing a billion dollar deal and raising their salary cap several times, a marquee player is only roughly £100k more?? Here was me thinking were struggling to keep up with the clubs.

C) the breach would be to the value of the remains of the contract if it were souths who breached the contract. Defining the value of your work is a lot harder to define. That's why there are employment tribunals. That's why in a worst case for Sam I'd suggest they should milk it for all it's worth, just as Leeds did with Harris. Admittedly I plucked a figure out of thin air, but only for the purposes of Sam is worth more to a team than that!

Russell Crowe has pumped millions upon millions into the club, what's 500,000 for selling a star player?

Souths have sent an members email saying they've had no contact from anyone about Sam.

A) doesn't "if they persuaded him to walk out of his contract" amount to enticement?

B) Well contrary to what you believe if the fee is to be a meagre £500,000 and Sam is earning so much more that would kind of prove my case that South's are in a very weak bargaining position and there is nowhere worthwhile to take this, if you are correct of course the fee will be so much higher than half a million.

C) How many tribunal cases are you aware of where the company get or even seeks significant amounts of redress from their employee for breach of contract? Leeds and Harris is a little bit different given it was found that Bradford did encourage Harris to break his contract with Leeds and that Leeds and Bradford are in the same country and under the same legal system.

Cynic alert...

So RL has a great world cup, England thrill the nation at Wembley, the league gets new sponsors and tv deal... and then on the eve of the season the RFU leak they are after one of the sports best players...


All coincidental of course.

No, the RFU are desperate for England to have a good tournament.

The timing all makes sense, tapped up in November, Sam B sleeps on it. Nothing sinister. I doubt RL is even on the RFU's radar, they have to worry about moneybags french RU teams.

Bath RU announce they are the ones looking to sign him and pair him up in the centres with Kyle Eastmond.
Unfortunately this comes down to national exposure in an international game and our failure as a sport to generate interest in our game. This will become more evident once the RU world cup in 2015 kicks off, this is when Rugby Union will gain so much momentum and cash that there will be nothing the Morans and Koukash's can do to stop the talent drain.

Sam Burgess was overrated at Souths.

Looks like Sam Burgess is abandoning the superior warm Sydney lifestyle for a pot of gold in the cold. www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/s ... 6819577647 It shows how insignificant the small profit-making 2013 RLWC was after all. A £5 million profit is a joke compared to the profits the RUWC will make. RU will have three of our superstars (Sam Burgess for England, SBW for NZ and Israel Folau for Australia) to bring the fans in through the gates. We will be poorer without them. The RFL bosses, esp. Nigel Wood in collusion with the empty suit Brian Barwick and the Hetheringtons, continue to drag our code down to the economic gutter by selling Super League TV rights years in advance for less than their potential market value, and by allowing professional RL in London to rot, and by denying Toulouse a place in the Super League top 12. We have a joke of an international presence because there are only three countries competitive. The next potential competitors, France and PNG, have been given no subsidy to grow and become competitive by the RLIF which Nigel Wood runs. Nigel Wood is a small minded accountant who should never have been allowed out of Halifax. The fact that he is allowed to run the RFL and tears up all the good reforms of Richard Lewis, like licencing and building the game in France, shows what a dunce Wood is and how incompetent the rest of the RFL are. Wood understands nothing about running a major sporting business. Lenagan, Moran or Koukash should be running the game.

Looks like Sam Burgess is abandoning the superior warm Sydney lifestyle for a pot of gold in the cold. www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/s ... 6819577647 It shows how insignificant the small profit-making 2013 RLWC was after all. A £5 million profit is a joke compared to the profits the RUWC will make. RU will have three of our superstars (Sam Burgess for England, SBW for NZ and Israel Folau for Australia) to bring the fans in through the gates. We will be poorer without them. The RFL bosses, esp. Nigel Wood in collusion with the empty suit Brian Barwick and the Hetheringtons, continue to drag our code down to the economic gutter by selling Super League TV rights years in advance for less than their potential market value, and by allowing professional RL in London to rot, and by denying Toulouse a place in the Super League top 12. We have a joke of an international presence because there are only three countries competitive. The next potential competitors, France and PNG, have been given no subsidy to grow and become competitive by the RLIF which Nigel Wood runs. Nigel Wood is a small minded accountant who should never have been allowed out of Halifax. The fact that he is allowed to run the RFL and tears up all the good reforms of Richard Lewis, like licencing and building the game in France, shows what a dunce Wood is and how incompetent the rest of the RFL are. Wood understands nothing about running a major sporting business. Lenagan, Moran or Koukash should be running the game.

It's a joke/disgrace etc.

What a load of crap Jean. It's not Super League over here that has failed to keep Burgess. Not even the billion dollar NRL comp, the sunshine or the four 'n twenty pies could entice Burgess to stay. Rugby Union is big don't ya know.

If this happens I'm going to see my something chronic. Gutted.

Aye lad. It's like Thomas Chippendale going to work for IKEA. What a waste of talent.

Still, who can we lynch over here to make up for it?

And so it begins.

He's a Socialist too, I'm sure.

great player on his day..but liked a few weeks rest last season on numerous occasions due to stupid antics

Good luck to him if he goes.Can't blame a guy for wanting to secure his long term financial future whilst getting a shot at a truly global event.

Can't help but feel disappointed though that we will miss 2/3 years of Sam in his prime, whilst having his game strangled out him in the other code and then returning half the player he was.

Hardest rugby league pill I've had to swallow in years.

The thing is, I don't blame him. It shows what a financial and commercial powerhouse RU is when it can attract the likes of burgess away from...not super league....but the NRL.

I put myself in burgess' shoes and think

money - check
chance to become national icon and win for your country - check
get's to come home (as nice as aus is, it isn't home) - check

I mean it's really a no brainer for burgess. Most player won't have the same mentality regarding RU that fans have, it's a career. This is a good career move for burgess, which is a damning indictment on the strength of our game.

Really.

Please tell us why....

I'm well aware what he did last season, i'm seeing some South fans already claiming we'd be better off without him. Most of these wits want Sandow back.

Burgess is irreplaceable to souths.

Don't worry, all we need to do is lower the cap a bit more, then Wakefield and Cas will 'catch up' - the league will be ultra-competitive and then fans and sponsors will flock back to the game and we can buy all the talent back again. (C) Nigel Wood / SL / RFL

You just don't get it!

Burgess is leaving the NRL precisely because RU is a much bigger deal internationally than RL. Ditto SBW. The reason RU is much bigger even though it is less attractive to watch is because it is played seriously in more countries than RL. This is in part due to the fact that RL in the northern hemisphere has been dragged down into the economic gutter by the mentally challenged men in charge of the RFL who cannot grasp how to grow the game.

It is Wood who has stymied Richard Lewis's attempts to build up the game in France, --- ever since Lewis became head of Sports England and only a part time Chairman of the RFL. Wood won't allow Toulouse into the top tier of SL until they bring a TV contract equal to Sky's proportion for 2 clubs. We know that France cannot develop with only one SL club. Wood does not give a damn. For Wood it is all about balancing the books today and tomorrow, which he cannot do because he has a parochial regional competition for sale. Wood cannot think long term. He is a petty accountant with a typical accountant's conservatism and risk avoidance mentality. Businesses don't grow and flourish with such people in control.

Barwick is an empty suit who hasn't expressed a single new idea since he took over as Chairman.

The Hetheringtons are bum kissers only interested in retaining their little Yorkshire fiefdoms.

We have lost a great player to a much higher profile RU partly because RL in the UK is a tiny enterprise run by selfish men and dunces.

Nice angle Jean. That'll reel a few in.

Can't understand why Burgess would be lured by the prospect of playing international Rugby Union when he's got a 4N tournament to look forward to on dates, times and venues yet to be determined because they are nothing more than an off-season afterthought.

So the England RU backline in 2015 could be.

10. Owen Farrell
11. Kyle Eastmond
12. Sam Burgess
13. Joel Tomkins
14. Chris Ashton

Want to bring Jason Robinson and Henry Paul back too?

Still, this isn't the place to bash Union. Although, it does say a lot about our inability to keep players?

The odd thing for me however is, why Burgess? I simply can't see him being a success. Joel Tomkins is by far the better natural athlete, but he has struggled at times to grasp the finer concepts of Union. Why would Burgess be any better? His skillset is not suited to RU.

With Manu Tuilagi as England's battering ram, what would Burgess offer to England RU? Yes he can offload, but his offloads are totally different in style to Sonny Bill Williams.

Burgess has no natural RU position, and if they do sign him, I just think it will be a bad fit for everyone.