England head coach Stuart Lancaster excited as Bath prepare to hand Sam Burgess his debut against Quins "It is a bonus that Sam is starting early," Lancaster said of Burgess, who will cover the back-line positions on Friday night. He was been watching a lot of union and the next step was for him to have a crack at it. Credit to Bath for what they are doing. There are no A team games left, so he is going straight into a Premiership match. I will be watching and it will be fascinating to see what happens. Mike Ford, Bath's head coach, has said he sees Burgess as a back-row forward, as a player whose chief asset is getting his hands on the ball and smashing forwards. Lancaster has hinted that he sees Burgess as an inside centre. There is a suggestion that Burgess might be deployed in both roles within the same match, operating from the back row on particular plays. Those closest to him have no doubt about his ability to make it happen, wherever he plays. "I can't see it not being a success just because of the way he is," said George Ford, the Bath fly-half, who has known Burgess from his own days in league. Sam has come on leaps and bounds since he has been at Bath. He is the type of character who wanted to play three weeks ago when he wasn't even fit. Lancaster has made no promises to Burgess. We can only base our selection on facts and how he plays for his club. Then he will have to prove that he has something over and above the players in his position. We will only take five back-row players and four centres to the World Cup. We will base our selection over a period of time, and Sam will come into that because clearly he is a good player.