Sam Burgess has hit back at Rob Andrew after the former RFU director of professional rugby, insisting he only had restricted to “an outsider’s view”.
In an extract from his book, Rugby: The Game of My Life : Battling for England in the Professional Era, Andrew describes how Stuart Lancaster’s regime unravelled at the tournament.
He also suggests that picking code-hopper Burgess was a “tipping point” towards failure that added “a rogue ingredient” to the squad dynamic.
“Rob wasn’t really around the camp,” he said. “Rob didn’t see the work I put in, Rob didn’t see how I contributed to the squad. Rob’s sitting from – in my opinion – an outsider’s view.
“I do disagree with him and I’m sure there are people out there who do know what happened, who understand what went down, how hard the training was, how hard I worked to get in that squad.
“I’m very proud of my performance for England and what I contributed to the team. Unfortunately, results didn’t go as we planned at that team.
“But Rob’s entitled to his opinion. He’s trying to sell his book.”