Bath boss Ford rejects talk of Burgess league return

Burgess made his debut for Bath in November, switching from league to union after helping South Sydney Rabbitohs win the NRL Grand Final.

Since his bow for Bath, Burgess has quickly risen through the international ranks and now has two England caps to his name, which came in the Rugby World warm-ups with France and Ireland.

He is expected to make his World Cup debut for England from the bench in the opening game of the tournament with Fiji on Friday.

However, speculation in Australia has suggested the back row could make the move back to the NRL next year, with South Sydney reportedly interested in re-signing the 26-year-old.

But Ford said: "I had lunch with him in between the France and Ireland games and all I can say is that Sam is very happy staying in rugby union.

"He is loving his England spell at the moment and he is looking forward to coming back after the World Cup and playing for us and progressing his rugby union career.

"I will be hoping that he is at Bath for a very long time, even going into the next World Cup [in 2019].

"We are very happy with Sam, and Sam is very happy with Bath. We want him to stay and I think he wants to stay for the long term, through to the next World Cup for example and he won't be going anywhere in the meantime."