Wednesday 11 November 2015 12:10, UK
Sam Burgess has dismissed criticism from Bath coach Mike Ford over his spell in rugby union and admitted he was always a league player at heart.
Ford claimed on Tuesday that Burgess "didn't have the stomach" to stay and fight for a future in union and the 26-year-old responded to his comments on his return to Australia.
Burgess played 27 senior games in union after deciding to make the switch in codes, the last five of those coming for England at the World Cup when international coach Stuart Lancaster decided to move him to inside centre; he had been playing as a flanker for his club.
And Burgess says he can be proud of his time in union, saying: "I went there, I met some cool people and had a great time learning a new game.
"I played 20, 21 games for Bath and five games for my country in a short space of time. Everyone is saying that is a failure but if you saw the work that went in, the commitment to get in that position, I'm proud of what I achieved.
"Mike may be a bit upset and that's fine. What did he say? That I missed my mum? Who doesn't miss their mum? I'm not afraid to say that. Fordy is entitled to say what he wants but I think that's more a reflection on himself than me."
Bath captain Stuart Hooper denied Burgess the chance to meet with his team-mates there to say a proper farewell, while fly-half George Ford said he had let down his fellow players, but Burgess feels the majority of his team-mates understood his situation.
"If I'm honest there are very few of my friends, my team-mates with both England and Bath that would question that," he said. "Percentage wise there might be one or two but it doesn't affect me too much. I think I handled myself extremely well."
Burgess is delighted to be back in the NRL with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, with whom he won a Grand Final in 2014, and wonders if it might be the last move of his career.
"I'm here for a long time now," he said. "I love south Sydney. It was never in question really about looking elsewhere at any of the clubs. I would find it very hard to put a different shirt on. I love this club, the experience I had here over the five seasons I played was unbelievable.
"I have no regrets about going, and no regrets about coming back, You have a very short space of time to play professional sport at the top level. I was going to play as a flanker in rugby union and some of the skills you need in the game I have never done in my life.
"It was going to take 18 months to nail that down and play at the top level, and by then I was going to be 28, 29. I had to weigh up what was in my heart. If it had been union I was probably have finished my career there, but I wanted to come back and finish what we had started in rugby league, in Australia, and in south Sydney."
