Bath Rugby-bound Sam Burgess risked serious injury after playing on with a broken cheekbone during Sunday's NRL final, according to Australian rugby league great Dr George Peponis.
Burgess suffered the injury in the opening collision of the match at the ANZ Stadium but completed the 80 minutes to help South Sydney Rabbitohs lift the title with a 30-6 win over Canterbury Bulldogs.
Burgess, who was playing in his final game for the Rabbitohs before joining Bath later this month, was awarded the Clive Churchill medal for man of the match after playing through the pain barrier.
The 25-year-old will now undergo surgery before arriving at The Rec to complete his cross-code move on Wednesday, October 15.
The injury invoked memories of Rabbitohs great John Sattler, who played on despite a broken jaw in their 1970 title triumph.
But former Australia captain Peponis, who is also a GP, believes Burgess' act of heroism could have led to more damage.
Peponis said: "He was courageous because he stayed on with a fractured eye socket or cheekbone, whatever it was.
"However, if he got another bad knock on that eye socket it could've done some more serious damage, it could've been further depressed and caused some damage to his muscles around the eye. Thankfully, luckily, none of that happened.
"Ideally, if it wasn't a Grand Final, he would've come off – as would have John Sattler many years before him . . . but that's what legend is made of, those kind of stories."
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