The plaintiff, as every bastard knows, was a superstar in rugby league who - after helping the Souths Rabbitohs become premiers in 2014 - accepted a squillon dollars to play with Bath on a three-year contract on the reckoning he would make the English World Cup team.

He did. The problem was England proceeded to have their worst World Cup since they took on Jesus' Jerusalem side – back when the Dead Sea was only sick. This time they didn't even get out of the pool stage, being thumped by both Wales and Australia and the person getting most of the blame since is Burgess, most particularly after he walked out on Bath and England.

One of the first to attack Burgess was my friend, former England international and now journalist, Stuart Barnes.

"The review panel," Barnes wrote in his column for The Times, "will have to ask why Burgess quit just one year into the union project. The bloke had been selected without any justification whatsoever for England, played in front of a global audience and repaid the blind and infatuated faith of the management team by walking away."

My judgment?

Prima facie, it really does appear to be a balls-up like mother used to make.

For what is Burgess? A superb rugby league footballer. Maybe one of the best ever. But what were the chances that, from a standing start, he was ever going to be an equal superstar in rugby union? How often does that ever happen?

And, in Burgess' case, whatever chance he had to shine was cut to pieces by two things. Firstly, if you can believe it, the Bath club, which first signed him back to union, played him in the forwards, while England played him in the backs! Madness.

And secondly, from Rabbitoh to English international and back to Rabbitoh really has only been a tad over a year! Rome wasn't built in a day and making a rugby union superstar has to take more than a year!

But, if the plaintiff will take the stand, and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but, let's hear it.

"I think a lot of people outside the England camp had an agenda against both England and, in some circumstances, me," Burgess told the London Daily Telegraph. "Certain ex-players had an agenda and sections of the media had an agenda, too. I also think certain coaches not involved with England had an agenda. Slowly but surely, when you are trying to get support within the team and the voices from outside with an agenda are so strong, it's too powerful. No matter what I did, I always felt that I was fighting a losing battle."

You see?

He might be right and there may have been many noses out of joint, but that still doesn't explain Burgess' personal form. He didn't play badly, mind, just not like he played in rugby league. He never dominated a match for England or Bath, or came close to it, the way he could dominate even an NRL grand final.

In sum, if there was an agenda against him, it wasn't much of one, because he still made the English side from a standing start when he'd only played a handful of games. And he was still paid a third of a squillion dollars for his time playing there. I wish I could have an "agenda" like that, run against me.

In consequence, I find that the plaintiff's charge that there was an agenda against him – or at least one worth complaining about – unsupported by the evidence. But I do defer to the words of my learned fellow judge, the former England international, Will Greenwood.

ICYMI: @SamBurgess8 sent this message to Members this morning after landing. https://t.co/RPpB79MEvK #GoRabbitohs. pic.twitter.com/T4NHdwanoY— South Sydney (@SSFCRABBITOHS) November 11, 2015

"It is just so sad that such a hash could have been made of such an exciting prospect. Someone so young, so strong. In all honesty, it is a damning indictment of union. Genuinely. Embarrassment may be too strong a word but this has not been a good day for the game. One of league's top players, with a skill set perfectly aligned to modern day union, has decided to leave before he has even had a chance to find out where his best position is."

I agree with that.

Burgess returns to league, where he will no doubt star again, but he is out of line to whinge too much about union. Ultimately, it gave him a chance to be a superstar, but neither he nor the game had enough time to take that chance. And part of the blame for that must lie with Burgess.

The person who has the true right to be filthy on the whole thing is the poor bastard whose spot Burgess took in the English World Cup Squad, who missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Case dismissed.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz