Sam Burgess to take the Premiership by storm

Burgess needs to brush aside the competition (©GettyImages).

Sam Burgess is a player who grabbed the headlines whilst playing for England in the Rugby League World Cup, before making the switch from Rugby League to Union, and there is a debate whether the 25-year-old will perform for his new club Bath.

Burgess began his career at Bradford Bulls in 2006, where he spent three years before moving to the Australian Rugby League with South Sydney, featuring 82 times in his four years at the club.

Sam Burgess

The 25-year-old has been impressive over the last few years for his pace, strength and ability to keep opposing players quiet in big games. An example was in the semi-final of the Rugby League World Cup when the much anticipated match-up between New Zealand and England saw Sonny Bill Williams take on Burgess.

Burgess was on form and straight from the kick-off showed his strength. Despite the fact England lost the game in the final seconds 20-18 at Wembley, it was still a whole hearted performance from the West Yorkshire born player.

Throughout the 2013 Rugby League World Cup the second row was instrumental in England's progress, considering an opening day defeat to Australia the captain brought the players together to win a succession of games. But now that Burgess has joined Bath and made the switch to Union it is another step forward and the third phase in the career of the former England captain.

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England & 2015

His position however is still unclear as maybe the prop could become a second row or even fill the number eight position, but competition is a lot tougher in the Union side of the game.

Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes currently stand as England's two main second rows, having played a number of games in the Six Nations alongside each other with Stuart Lancaster having trust in their abilities.

Considering Burgess was the captain of England in the 2013 tournament, it may be more difficult to push his way into the starting 15, but that depends on how Burgess performs in his opening season.

Of course the brother of four wouldn't be the first player to make the switch from Rugby League and break into the England team. Chris Ashton and World Cup winner Jason Robinson both made the switch collecting a number of caps for England and representing their country on the international stage.

The 2015 Rugby World Cup will be a realistic target for Burgess, and with England hosting the tournament it would be another reason to push hard for this season, as considering Bath haven't won much silverware Burgess may be their missing link.