Sam Burgess dares Tigers to test him out - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Sam Burgess dares Tigers to test him out

By Steve Jancetic and Ben Horne 07/04/2011 06:43:17 PM Comments (0)

South Sydney juggernaut Sam Burgess has dared the Wests Tigers' pack to run at his dodgy shoulder after the Englishman was cleared to play in a mouthwatering duel against countryman Gareth Ellis.

The England Test duo will go head-to-head at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday night - Burgess given the green light after conquering 'Kin Com' while Tigers backrower Ellis was passed fit after taking part in Thursday's final training run.

Neither has played since the opening round, Burgess lasting just 26 minutes against the Sydney Roosters before re-injuring the left shoulder he had surgically repaired during the off-season.

But after putting his left wing to the test on 'Kin Com' - a medical device used to measure the strength of injured joints - Burgess said he was ready for whatever Ellis and his teammates could throw at him.

"The shoulder's fit so if they want to come and run at me they can," Burgess told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"I'm ready to tackle and I'm ready to play.

"It won't affect me - I might have to make a few more tackles but I've worked hard over the last three weeks to get fit so I'm looking forward to it."

Burgess said he had no fears of re-injuring the shoulder, after he was a late scratching for last week's win over Manly when he failed to measure up to 'Kin Com'.

"Kin Com felt the wrath this afternoon," Burgess joked on Thursday.

"Your arm's up at 90 degrees and you go through some one-off strength tests and then an endurance tests.

"The bad shoulder was fine - it compared very similarly and in some cases stronger than my right side."

Burgess' inclusion gives the Rabbitohs some potency on both edges, with the Englishman lining up on the right and Dave Taylor and Greg Inglis doing damage down the left.

Ellis may need a bit of time to get used to his new partners down the Tigers' left edge, with Geoff Daniela and Mitch Brown replacing the injured Chris Lawrence and Lote Tuqiri.

The return of Ellis wasn't the only good news for the Tigers, with skipper Robbie Farah claiming the pain associated with his osteitis pubis problem had eased.

What hasn't eased is Farah's memory of last year's drubbing at the hands of the Bunnies, with Souths flogging the Tigers 50-10 at the SCG.

"I've never been as embarrassed walking off the footy field as I did that day at the SCG, so that's something I'll never forget and hopefully it'll never happen again," said Farah, who also had not forgotten the 34-30 loss to the Bunnies in round 22.

"I think they were both key points in our season, we learnt a lot from both those losses, especially that first one really turned our season around I think and gelled us together as a team.

"I remember after that game media reports Tigers were struggling and in-house fighting and it was just a load of crap and we stuck together and went up to Newcastle and had a good tough win and we ended up turning our season around."

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