Watch: Sam Burgess Suffers Sickening Neck Injury In NRL Clash

England forward Sam Burgess is undergoing hospital scans after suffering a neck injury.

The 27-year-old was involved in an accidental clash of heads with another Englishman, former Warrington prop Mike Cooper, in the 58th minute of South Sydney’s round three NRL clash with St George Illawarra.

Burgess, who was playing only his third game back following his nine-month stint in rugby union with Bath and England, lowered his head as he ran the ball up to a wall of Dragons defenders and, upon impact, immediately fell to the ground.

Burgess lay prone on the turf for several minutes as he was treated by medical personnel before being carried off on a stretcher and rushed to the nearby St Vincent’s Hospital.

Burgess’ mother Julie and close friend Russell Crowe, the Hollywood actor and Souths joint owner, were visibly distressed as they watched from the stands but coach Michael Maguire said the initial signs were positive. Maguire said in his post-match press conference:

“At the moment he has gone for scans. The doctor was pretty positive, which was good news.

“He had a bit of tingling down one arm and they go through all the right processes when you have an incident like that, but from what I’ve been told he (Burgess) was pretty positive when they put him in the ambulance, so we’ll have to wait and see about the scans.

“He was in a bit of pain, he got compressed there quite heavily, but as I’ve been told he’s in a pretty good frame of mind.”

Rabbitohs captain Greg Inglis added:

“You don’t want to see that from any player, to go down like that. When he’s lying there motionless and you can’t really say much, it is worrying.”