HONEST | Stuart Lancaster reveals all about Sam Burgess selection

“Clearly, hindsight is a wonderful thing,” said Lancaster.

“If I’d known he was going to go back to rugby league then my decisions would have been different, but we didn’t know that at the time. It’s a shame for everyone. I don’t think there was any winner in the end.

“Sam was a great and positive influence on the group. He worked hard and earned the right, in our minds, to be in the squad. I think there’s a perception that I somehow went on a crusade to try and recruit him from rugby league. What happened was I went to Australia and watched a game, popping in to see various coaches along the way.

“One of those was Michael Maguire [head coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs] and Sam pulled me on the way out and said: ‘Do you fancy a coffee?’ We had a chat and he said: ‘I want to have a think about playing rugby union, how do I go about doing it?’

Speaking about the disastrous 2015 campaign, Lancaster added: “A lot of things have happened since the World Cup, but it is still fresh in my mind,” he said. “You think about it most days."

Have a look at the last 5 Lancaster debutants with England.

On 10 August, Burgess was named in the England Elite Squad to make his International début against France at Twickenham on 15 August, in a warm-up match for the Rugby World Cup. He started the game which England won 19-14.

Following his appearance where he was sin-binned, World Cup winning English scrum-half Matt Dawson commented: "You can't take him to the World Cup for me. He played 80 mins and credit for that. But the way the game went in the second half there was nothing for him to do. The great thing about Burgess is he doesn't make mistakes with ball in hand. But unfortunately, if you're going to be really picky, positionally he wasn't great. He played like a six rather than a 12. There are things that are instinctively he doesn’t know what to do."

Dawson's comments came before Lancaster named Burgess as one of four centres to represent England in the World Cup. His inclusion and performances at the World Cup were widely scrutinized, and seen by some pundits as partly to blame for England's "humiliating" early pool stage exit from the tournament—the worst result for a sole host nation in the tournament's history.

On 5 November, Burgess made the decision to leave rugby union, opting to return to South Sydney Rabbitohs, signing a three-year contract, approximately worth $1.5m AUD per season.

The now 29-year-old flanker made his England debut when he started against France on 15 August 2015 in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup. This would be his only cap to date, however, the flanker has enjoyed considerable success with club side Saracens.

Slade also won his first cap against France but has gone onto become a regular of squads since. Lancaster selected the Exeter man for the World Cup with the centre winning his second England cap again against Uruguay in the final pool game, scoring a try.

Slade suffered a nasty broken leg for Exeter Chiefs in the 2015/16 season ruling him out for the six nations under new coach Eddie Jones. Despite this Slade recovered from his injury and has won 26 caps thus far.

The Exeter hooker also made his full international debut against France in a warm-up match for the 2015 World Cup at Twickenham. Despite often being in squads, he's only won 20 caps due to being behind Jamie George in the pecking order. He's finally starting to emerge as a genuine contender to start.

George was first selected by Lancaster to replace Dylan Hartley in the squad after Hartley was suspended for head-butting George in a Saracens vs Northampton Saints fixture.

He was announced in Stuart Lancaster's 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup just 5 days after making his international debut against France during the World Cup Warm Ups, replacing Tom Youngs in the 48th minute.

He's since become an England mainstay, winning 38 caps, while also playing six matches on the British & Irish Lions tour including all four tests, one against the Maori All Blacks and three against the All Blacks.