SAM Burgess has attacked the man who did him a big favour – and is likely to have saved him from suspension.
The England captain may have faced a ban for punching Australia prop David Klemmer in Sunday’s 36-18 defeat that cost them a Four Nations final place.
But SunSport understands there will be no disciplinary investigation as the incident was not placed on report by referee Rob Hicks.
That did not stop Burgess from slamming the official, even claiming he may have been influenced by Kangaroos captain Cameron Smith.
And sources say they also expect nothing to happen over the rant, which centred on the penalty count in the first half.
Burgess said: “You all saw the game and some of the calls and I just don’t think he was good enough at all.
“You’ve got to put the whistle away at some point. I’m not blaming the defeat on that because Australia were very good but, jeez, it was an international.
Related stories
“Some of them were very questionable. He may have been trying to even that scorecard up a bit before half time, I don’t know why.
“There was a time where he was made aware of the penalty count and he made sure it was even by half-time.
“I don’t know what agenda he had there or whether he wanted to even it up but some of the penalties I don’t think were penalties at this level, but that’s just my opinion. Other people would disagree with that.”
When asked who mentioned it to Hicks, Burgess initially said, ‘An Australian player,’ before conceding it was Smith, labelling him, ‘a smarter player.’
While Burgess fumes, rugby league bosses launch an all too familiar post-mortem into why England missed out on the Four Nations final.
Coach Wayne Bennett – the man supposedly brought in to usher in a new era for England – cannot change where the side falls down, that is down to the players’ mental strength making sure there are no mistakes.
But Burgess hit back at suggestions England have gone backwards under the legendary boss.
He added: “I’m not making excuses but the scoreline didn’t reflect where we are as a team – we’re a better side than that and we have improved as a team, no doubt about that.
“Wayne thinks we’re our own worst enemies, which a couple of guys tend to agree with. We’ve got to sort our discipline out to get where we want to be – I agree that I give too many penalties away.
“And we have to concentrate on every play. Four or five lapses of concentration and you just can’t win at this level. I disagree with the claim that we’ve gone backwards.”
Leave a comment