Bath Rugby head coach Mike Ford has admitted that he has been left "disappointed" by Sam Burgess's decision to make a swift return to rugby league.
The 26-year-old rejoined Australian NRL club South Sydney Rabbitohs on Thursday, just 12 months into a three-year deal at the Aviva Premiership outfit.
Burgess cited "family reasons" behind his decision to switch codes away from rugby union, but Ford believes that the blind-side flanker still had plenty more to offer both club and country in England.
"The way we play rugby at Bath he would have fitted in brilliantly and taken our game, and rugby union I feel, to a new dimension," he told BBC Sport. "No-one can change my mind that Sam Burgess is a back-row player - that's who he is.
"We wanted him on the field as a ball carrier and a tackler, that's what he did and it worked for us the way we played. Going from six to 12 for how England wanted to play, it's the same job. But with Bath he touched the ball more, made more tackles, had more involvements.
"I said to him he could play 12 with England then easily come back to us and play six. I stand by that. It's disappointing as I feel he has potentially left too early and we're short of a very good back-row player, and England are short of a potentially good back-row player internationally."
Burgess played 21 games for Bath after joining last year, scoring four tries during his time at The Rec.
Daniel Lewis
