Burning desire for Burgess

Editor

England hopeful Sam Burgess believes his switch to flanker has been beneficial as he looks to push himself forward for World Cup selection.

The former rugby league player, who began life in union at centre, has now moved to the blindside for Premiership side Bath and is performing well.

Whether or not the 26-year-old has done enough to earn a spot in Stuart Lancaster's 45 remains to be seen though, as he assessed his chances.

"I think the way the two teams play is certainly different," he told BBC Points West when discussing Bath and England's respective styles of rugby.

"In our system at Bath playing at six gets the most out of me and works for the team.

"But how it works down the line, we'll just wait and see."

He added on his recent positional switch: "I'm really enjoying the new role. It's not the first time I've done it because we did a bit of work in the flanks when I first came over, so it's not quite starting from scratch.

"It's been fine. I played a lot of Premiership games at 12 so I knew the standard. But I've played two or three games at flanker now and I'm starting to find my feet a bit."

Lancaster will name his 45-man training squad next week, with plenty of headaches for the England head coach to mull over before making a decision.

"I think everyone wants to be involved," said Burgess. 

"Anything to do with representing your country is the pinnacle in my eyes. I've always got a burning desire to represent my country.

"I think it's important for me to stay focused on my job at Bath and we'll wait and see how things go over the next week.

"At the forefront of my mind is just playing well with my team-mates at Bath and when the time comes round, if I'm in or not, I'll just enjoy it."