By Brad Walters
Hall of Famer Sam Burgess has revealed that the most famous incident of his Clive Churchill Medal winning performance in South Sydney’s historic 2014 Grand Final win would never have happened if not for a quirk of fate.
Burgess, who helped the Rabbitohs end a 43-year premiership drought, suffered three fractures in his cheekbone and eye socket in the opening tackle of the match after a sickening head clash with Bulldogs prop James Graham.
Souths winger Alex Johnston received the kick-off from Canterbury centre Tim Lafai and passed to Burgess, who charged onto the ball from his own goal line before being met by Graham in a brutal collision between the English greats.
However, Burgess was never meant to be in that position for the kick-off and had only decided to swap with Rabbitohs prop Dave Tyrrell as the teams were preparing to enter the field.
Graham, who also usually lined up on the opposite side of the field, followed suit.
“James and I had a fierce rivalry,” said Burgess, who in August became the first English international inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame
“We had so much respect for each other, we were England teammates and England roommates for well over a decade, but when we played against each other we went after the collision.
“We enjoyed that. Well, I certainly did, and I know what James is about.
“I kind of orchestrated that, because I’m not supposed to stand in that position on the field.
“Dave Tyrrell was supposed to be standing there. I was supposed to be stood front left on the 40-metre line but right before we got on the field, I said, ‘hey, Dave, you stand at the front. I know they’re going to kick to that corner, and I want the ball first’.
“I wanted the first play of the game and James knew that I’d done that because he knows that I should be stood there [at the left front], so he would have been in his own mind thinking ‘what’s this bloke doing. We’ve got 80 minutes of this’.
“It wasn’t meant to be, but I guess it was meant to be.”
Despite being immediately aware of the severity of his injury, Burgess continued playing and inspired South Sydney to a 30-6 win before being chaired from the field at fulltime.
“You don’t realise at the time that you’re making a bit of history, and James and I share that,” Burgess said.
“Unfortunately for me, it didn’t work out quite well, but I think it was great that we actually shared that moment together. I’m glad it was him.”
Burgess’s heroics have been compared to fellow Rabbitohs great John Sattler, who played with a broken jaw in the 1970 Grand Final, but it was his overall performance that earned him the Clive
Churchill Medal.
Despite his facial injury, Burgess carried the ball for 218 metres – the most of any forward – and topped the South Sydney tackle count with 39 tackles.
He also produced a slips-like catch from a Josh Reynolds kick near his own line that could have saved a Canterbury try when the scores were locked at 6-6 in the 54th minute.
With Burgess leaving to play rugby union in England, including the 2015 Rugby World Cup, before returning two years later, he was given the last conversion attempt after Greg Inglis’s 79th minute try and famous ‘Goanna’ celebration.
“I got the Clive Churchill which I said on the night I accepted on behalf of my team because really, any one player could have really got that,” Burgess said.
“I thought Greg was amazing and Luke Keary, John Sutton, Adam Reynolds, my brother George, everyone had big games, so I think anyone who received that award that night would have been a worthy winner.
“It just fell my way on the day, and it was lovely that John Sattler was in the crowd, as well. Seeing him
on the field after the game, we had a good chat and that was a really cool moment.
“With the history of the club and the 43-year drought, to be part of the team that overcame that was special.”
After arriving in Australia on the day of his 21st birthday in 2011, Burgess was joined by brothers Luke and twins Tom and George.
Sharing the premiership triumph with Tom and George made the win even more special and he nominated George’s 56th minute try, which broke the deadlock and opened the floodgates, as a personal highlight.
“To this day, that moment in my career is one of the most powerful moments because it was euphoric,” Burgess said,
“My younger brother scoring on the biggest stage … I remember running to him and I grabbed his face, and I just remember being so overjoyed in that moment.
“There’s so many great little snippets out of the game that were really important to us within that game but that moment, especially with George scoring … it was a game breaker, and we just took it away from there.
“George thinks he should have got the Clive Churchill and he tells me every now and then how he reckons he probably should have been the one up there.”
