Sam Burgess takes fresh swipe at Jamie Roberts years after series of bizarre text messages

Former England centre Sam Burgess has taken a strange swipe at Jamie Roberts in an appearance on a rugby league podcast, belittling him as "just like a normal NRL player" who "wasn't interested in contact".

Burgess, who switched codes prior to the 2015 World Cup, failed to make the same mark in union as he did in league - with England exiting their home World Cup in the pool stages. The 33-year-old, who was forced to retire from rugby league through injury and is now looking for coaching jobs in Australia, has never exactly hidden his bitterness over the short-lived move to union.

And it would appear that resentment extends to Welsh centre Roberts, who started opposite Burgess in midfield during Wales' famous 28-25 victory at Twickenham. Speaking on former England rugby league international James Graham's The Bye Round podcast, Burgess felt compelled to bring up the 94-cap Wales midfielder when listing his gripes with the 15-a-side game.

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“We play Wales the next week and he starts me at inside centre," he said, speaking about his World Cup experiences. "They have Jamie Roberts who’s [supposedly] some big guy, but he’s just like a normal NRL player.

"He’s supposed to be this big fierce runner, but he wasn’t interested in contact. I think I hit him a couple of times in the game, I don’t remember him so much.

“We played the game I didn’t do a great deal. It was just a normal game of footie. We were leading by 10 and they took me off with 20 minutes to go.

“They bring George Ford on and Jamie Roberts starts running over him and we lose by three. And that was it. So much goes into that. At the end of the day my