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Runaway Rabbit ... Sam Burgess on the charge. Photo: Steve Christo

IN THE visitors' dressing room at the SCG, there are plenty of honour boards listing the great achievements of Englishmen. For example, the first Test century by a visitor at the ground was scored by England's A.G.Steel in the summer of 1882-83.

South Sydney's Sam Burgess, the NRL's big-name English import, found a lot of pleasure scanning those names before yesterday's heritage round game against Wests Tigers. ''I read the boards and, to be honest, them boards are dominated by England, I'd like to say,'' the 21-year-old forward said proudly. ''It's been a pretty special experience [at the SCG]. The history around the place is brilliant. It's a good place to play footy, I suppose.''

But Burgess was as surprised as anyone to see Souths knock up a cricket score with a half-century (50-10) against the hapless Tigers. He put in a strong performance on the right edge that deserved a mention on an honour board too.

The highlight came in the 13th minute when he was involved in a lovely one-two combination with Nathan Merritt that led to the first Rabbitohs try. Burgess took the ball from Merritt, broke the line and then gave a beautifully timed pass back for the winger to race away and score.

''Just before we went out I said [to Merritt], 'I'll push a little bit off you when you do dummy-half carries', and the first one we got I gave him a nod and it just kind of paid off, so I might start doing it a little bit more,'' Burgess said.

The game, however, came to a premature end for Burgess, courtesy of getting up close and personal with part of the SCG's rich cricket heritage - the rock-hard centre square.

His head was slammed into it by another Englishman, Tigers forward Gareth Ellis. ''We got the scoreline but 'Gaz' got a pretty big hit on me,'' Burgess said of the tackle, that left him seeing stars. ''I was definitely rattled. It took me a couple of minutes to come back around. He definitely got me. My head went straight into the ground right on the [cricket] square.''

As a result, Burgess was brought off 12 minutes into the second half. By that stage the scoreline meant he was a luxury the Rabbitohs could afford to keep safe on the sideline.

Earlier in the second half a clash of knees in a tackle had left Burgess hobbling badly with a cork, but he ran it off and said neither the cork nor the head knock would keep him off the park next weekend.

Growing up in Yorkshire, Burgess loved turning out as a batsman and wicketkeeper for his village cricket side. But come summer don't expect to see him in the whites for South Sydney District Cricket Club.

''I've got enough on my hands with rugby league at the minute,'' Burgess said.